This month as we celebrate Pride Month and embrace the dignity and freedom of expression of our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters, this month when we mourn the death of George Floyd and so many other black people who have suffered and died under the edifice of white supremacy, this time in history when we are emerging from our pandemic hideouts and learning to see the world anew, how might we truly SEE the world anew?

I recently discovered that Rachel Carson began her life’s work as, not as a scientist, but as a writer and poet. And this made me love her even more. Like me, she had been so captivated by the sea and the bird songs and every magical object of nature in between that she couldn’t imagine putting words to what she bore witness to without using lush, vivid language, full of color.

A white flower in the cemetery. To know me is to know that I love to walk in cemeteries. I, the girl who seeks out beauty around every corner, who imbibes the warm glow of optimism, who dwells in life’s abundance. I. love. cemeteries. I find their existence a...