"Love Poem in Which Nature Is Nonbinary and Uses They/Them Pronouns" by Kelli Russell Agodon

Love Poem in Which Nature Is Nonbinary and Uses They/Them Pronouns

Because there is a man who likes to trample over 
what’s blooming, he thinks nature is a woman. 

But look at the fig tree sturdy and in cahoots 
with the mosquitoes to make sweetness. 
Look at the river where the sky wades in, 
the pink petals resting on the rocks. 

Daffodils, snowberries, lavender, blackberries—
they stitch together a blossoming flag, a quiet resistance. 

Once in the deep of a forest, a friend asked, 
Who decided straight was more “natural”—
it seems more natural to bend, overflow, expand? 

Spotted hyenas, chimera butterflies, clownfish, 
Australian cuttlefish, the marsh harrier. 

They are the lush of the evergreens, of lavender’s 
indistinct rows, of doubling weed, and the cluster 
of daisies sprouting from the cement. 

They are the strength of the snail, the softness
of the wolf ’s tongue. The magnificence of the mosaic!, 
my friend said as she held my hand, both of us 
watching the sunset collapse. 

Look at the ocean, the sandpipers on the shore 
and tell me now —What’s not to love? 

The blaze of being more. The brilliance 
of being multitudes. 



Appears in Accidental Devotions (Copper Canyon Press, 2026)

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Audio: Kelli Russell Agodon reads “Love Poem in Which Nature Is Nonbinary and Uses They/Them Pronouns”

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Kelli Russell Agodon’s newest poetry collection, Accidental Devotions, has just been released by Copper Canyon Press. The book is full of ghosts, desire, queer spirituality, grief, joy, smartphones, Emily Dickinson, and poems that ask what we accidentally give our attention to. In this poet’s world, God might drive a convertible toward the sunset, Rilke might speak through a Ouija board, and even a typo can become a blessing. Kelli is the author of five books of poetry and the cofounder of Two Sylvias Press. She teaches in Pacific Lutheran University’s low-residency MFA program, the Rainier Writing Workshop, and cohosts the poetry series Poems You Need with Melissa Studdard. Kelli lives in a small seaside town in Washington State, where she writes poems, paddleboards, and occasionally keeps company with the ghosts. www.agodon.com

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