BYRON WILSON

SPRING/SUMMER 2022 ISSUE #04 POET

BYRON WILSON grew up in a tiny town on the northern California coast where he enjoyed unfettered access to some of the most pristine and awe-inspiring landscapes on Earth. He graduated with an English literature degree from Chico State and he currently lives in Oregon, where he works as a marketing copywriter for a toy company. Nature often serves as the impetus for introspection in his work, exposing the many nuanced tensions inherent in the idea of self. He is working to complete his first collection. Follow him on Twitter @olddelusion.

HABIT

Plant the seed,
if you must,
deliberately.
The roots
will spread wide
and burrow deep.
Realize
you can’t undo
the initial act,
and a lifetime
of tending
will follow.
And know
that if you let it
become unruly—
as habits often do—
the only hope you have
is to destroy it,
but if even a sliver
of root remains
after you’ve cut back
the brambles,
turned the soil, and
pulled every stem,
it will find a way
to grow back again.