Recent Publications
In The Gallery, published by Poets for Science
“Falls Creek: The Deeper Names”
“In Which the Burlwood Table Speaks Its Mind”
“Go To a Beach Where the Dogs Speak Spanish”
Kelly Lenox
Writer inspired by the Earth I walk.
Mama Ephemera’s Muddy Feet
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Each month I publish an original essay, with lyrical reflections on life, science, nature, poetry, essays, fiction and whatever else inspires me. Subscribe and read for free, or take the option to support my work with a paid subscription. See below for some recent essays!
The News from Ice
There are still places on Earth where snow falls and does not melt away. Places where it’s done this for thousands and millions of years. Each new snowfall lays down upon the older ones its weight of water, its pockets of air. The new snow in turn will bear the weight of the next storm’s coat.
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How to Visit a Burned Forest
Drive up through the burned canyon, above the river designated “wild and scenic” from its headwaters to the hydroelectric dam. A river that now fills with wild black logs after every windstorm, rainstorm, landslide.
The canyon’s steep slopes bear a tangled coat of tree skeletons, like spilled black toothpicks, still holding on somehow.
Your dithering about whether “burned forest” is an oxymoron will dissipate like fog under the climbing sun …
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Mycelium Days
Gray of winter. Living things are dormant, hibernated, migrated far from this cold. Fog. Rain. Lassitude. Hard to focus on anything for long. Time to double down on resolutions, surely discipline will shepherd us toward practices better for person and planet. Toward fruitfulness.
Read now →
The Brightest Rock
My debut poetry collection
Thanks for visiting my website. Use the links above to learn more about my essays, poetry, translations, and latest publications.
Poke around and enjoy the photos, all of which were taken by me unlsess noted otherwise. All rights reserved.
Who is Mama Ephemera and why are her feet muddy?
She is me and I (Kelly Lenox) am a writer and student of Earth who finds the natural world to be rich with lessons for living, in the rough places as well as the joyful. The infinite variety of life strategies among Earth’s critters and physical processes of the planet offer instruction, guidance, inspiration. However ephemeral or head-in-clouds I may be at times, my feet are sunk in life-giving mud. It feels so good between my toes.
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Published work
To read poems and lyric essays available online