Linus Korbin Norgren

Me in five years at this rate. Not mine. Just something from childhood that’s always inspired me.

Where you ruin your eardrums and punish your ma.

Hydrangeas + glass fishing floats

View from my balcony. (Food scrap sunset.)

It wasn't enough
just chopping me down, so you
cut my heart out too.

It’s twelve o’one and I just ate breakfast
but I started cooking three days ago.

Miso soup is the study of how positives attract:
I sat and peeled, sliced, and rinsed the ginger
stretched the shiitake out to dry across some racks
submerged the spicy roots in a bath of sugar and vinegar
I soaked the seaweed as the dashi simmered gently on the stove
then I sat and listened to the slightest hiss of gas glowing
like the clear azurite sky outside
shimmering through the scented steam
of flash seared porcini sizzling in a cast iron skillet,
an old Griswold number twelve cracked around its rim.

And then I waited—
I waited until the house ruptured and the ocean poured in
I waited until my nostrils smiled to themselves
I waited until something spoke to me
and said, your wait is done.
But I was glad to wait,
and I will gladly wait some more
because everything worthwhile in this world
asks us only of our time, and time, dear friends,
is something I have far too much of these days.

Good food is but one of many ways
this one of many living worlds tells us,
“Don’t worry, you’re safe with me.”🐣🐖🐄🐫🐗 🐃🦛🐏Because she cares for us dearly. 🦔🐿️🐻🦃🐧🐦🕊️🐓🦘🐼“Eat not for body,” she begs,
outstretched hands overwelling
with loving concern like seed for the birds
or bread broken between the newest of friends,🐥🐍🐬🦆 “but do drink deep, feast to your heart’s content." 🐢🐳🦋🐙For though cooking might be a simple act,
it is also a sacred task—to nourish
is an art form born of love and comfort
that brings spiritual sustenance to your soul.🦑🌾🥑🍓🌶️ 🍄———————————————————————————————————Myriad beings
live, exist
give birth
and perish
because we aren’t here
just to watch them go:

We are here
to tend their growth.

So maintain a garden.
Observe the seasons.
Respect the price of living:

You are let continue
however long “long” lasts
because others are early ended.

Edit: Sustainably sourced plant and animal emojis for formatting purposes. (No animal emoji was harmed in the making of this...whatever it is.) @ Portland, Oregon

Bout to sun dry some shiits.

It's not unusual
to be small and colorful.

So many flowers struggle
to fit some ideal mold
because but of course—
their petals are not plaster.

Overlarge unsullied
pure white vanilla alabaster
can only see who you can't help but be
as strange, or wrong, or unnatural.

They forget that, sure,
the light may be what brings them into bloom,
but the dirt is what holds us here in place.
The hummingbird's bill is slender,
and Ultraviolet seduces the honeybee
with her off-purple spell of indigo.

So if it's all the same to you,
sully yourself with difference:
Never whitewash with plainness.
Be ruddy and imperfect,
small in who you are—
and you will fulfill your purpose:

To shine less and gather darkly calm
and give off so much more light for it.