Matriarch: A Meditation in Poetry and Photography
by Kimberly Phinney
MATRIARCH
I walk out into the woods—emptied
and without the world humming inside my pocket.
I walk out into the quiet—
save the crunch of leaves, the sway of pine and poplar,
and the song of the yellow warbler
waltzing in my ears.
I walk until I can go no more
and collapse into the foliage—
all breathing heavy and fast,
all dizzy with life and the heat of my beating heart—
a warm body brushing against the cold spring air
and warmed again by the glowing heat of the midday sun.
Lying here, I find an acorn trapped between two stones.
I palm her and look deep into her soul.
She is a singular, circular perfection:
copper, then tanned and smoothed—like sanded wood—
a capsule of life, a womb for an entire oak just waiting to be born.
And I love her:
all she is…
all she gives…
and all she will be.
I hold her in one hand,
close to my chest like a precious stone
as I use my other hand to dig down deep past the old leaves,
down past the aged humus of undergrowth,
until I find the lush and wetted soil—
the hue and feel of coffee grinds—
the color of life.
I shape a house to hold her in the ground—
like we’re in my garden bed.
I work until my fingernails turn black, and I am pleased with my toil.
Then I place her in this dark den to rest and one day grow,
and I tell her, “You have mattered to me.”
I tell her what I have longed to hear.
And although it is very likely I may never find her again as a sapling,
and although it is very likely I will die
long before she towers over this land,
I see her in my mind’s eye out into the future—
a great and sturdy mother of these mountains.
I see her power, her matriarchy—
the forever home she will make for others in her mighty trunk,
in the curve of her branches,
in the shadow of her grace—
the forever leaves and seeds she will birth
and give back to this sacred place,
year after year.
So, I bless her here
on this eighteenth of March
and whisper to her,
as I cover her head with a blanket of earth:
“Sweet Mother of Life,
you hold a world inside of you,
and you give it so freely to the world…
May my life be ever like yours.”
Yes, may it be ever so.
Wild Gardens, Mother Earth, by Kimberly Phinney, Sony Alpha 7, 50 mm Carl Zeiss lens, manual
Hungry Bee, Mother Flower, by Kimberly Phinney, Sony Alpha 7, 50 mm Carl Zeiss lens, manual
A Note on Gardens, God, and Matriarchy:
These days, I hear a gentle and ever-present phrase beat in my mind: Nature is God’s second Gospel. I revel in the idea that we are held by Mother Earth and Father God—as they suspend us together with their goodness and beauty in this liminal space that is the human life. Of course, the two places that speak to me most are the garden and the mountains (perhaps they are the closest we will ever get to Heaven while on this Earth). In these sacred places, I see God’s promises and divine design everywhere, repeating in myriad iterations: chrysalis to butterfly, acorn to oak, humus to growth. Everywhere, things are being redeemed and resurrected! And nothing is ever wasted!
Mother Nature demonstrates that the God of the Bible is alive, and her expansive matriarchy sings, provides, births, and teaches, just as Mother Mary did for her beloved Son. It is at this intersection—sitting in my own motherhood (and the many shapes it takes), exalting Mother Earth and worshiping Father God, that I, too, feel the most expansive and alive. It is as if we are all working together toward one omnipresent accord… that we are ever-going home toward Heaven—and then one day a new Earth, where there will be no more labor pains, or sin and suffering, or broken bodies. And there will only be gardens and never graves and only be holiness and never the hard things that seek to break us. And what a day that will be!
KIMBERLY PHINNEY
Kimberly Phinney is a writer, professor, counselor, publisher, and editor. She’s been published in Christianity Today, Ekstasis, Solum Literary Press, Fathom, The Dewdrop, Humana Obscura, Calla Press, and more. She is the founder of www.TheWayBack2Ourselves.com. Her poetry is award-winning. “Exalted Ground” was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2024. Her poem “An Ode to Hard Dark Nights” won the Audience Choice Award in the Bright Wings Poetry Contest with Ekstasis and Makers and Mystics in 2024. Her small collection of poetry from Of Wings and Dirt won runner-up in Fathom Magazine’s Poetry Contest in 2023.
A doctoral candidate in Community Care and Counseling, Kimberly holds an M.Ed. in English and studied at Goddard’s Creative Writing MFA program. She was featured on Good Morning America for a national award and for teaching through critical illness. Her poetry collection, Of Wings and Dirt, was a bestseller on the Amazon Charts throughout 2024. Her second book of poetry, Exalted Ground: Poems of Praise and Lament for the Living, debuted as a best-seller and #1 in Christian Poetry Charts in April of 2025. She is at work on her large nonfiction project, which she hopes will be published in 2027.