The following is a poem written by Jessica Talley, whom I met on the Veteran’s Rites June 2021 Rite of Return, a modern-day wilderness rites of passage for veterans. Jess came as a witness, having completed her own rite of return last year, and will be training to become a guide.

I had the great honor to be invited to co-guide this ceremony with my esteemed elder Larry Hobbs, and magical veteran Mark Oravsky, in eastern Washington last month. I have been changed by the whole experience. I got to see the pure, shining souls of people who come from a different world than the one I happened to be born into — veterans who have seen trauma and violence like I will never know. I got to see warrior spirits being welcomed back from military service . . . and more importantly, as Mark says, back home to themselves.

I was struck by Jess’s quiet manner and wide-open energy, and her capacity to love with such gentle firmness. I could feel her clarity and love coming out of her like a soft glow. To hear her read this poem with her strong, gentle, low voice is to be welcomed into her own powerful experience of the vision fast.

The Land

by Jessica Talley

I came into this campsite with my spirit in a gurney, 

Guard walls high, standing strong, just to crumble on this journey. 

I don't know how it happened but my hidden wounds were seen, 

My true spirit started to break through and the real me started to gleam.

I was standing, I was shinning, finally victory was mine. 

Then I dealt with all my demons, and I traveled back through time. 

I'm unblinded and unbound like my garden grew an acre. 

Yes my smile is from my heart now, I am no longer a faker. 

Inside the core of me, something changed, 

Somehow my heart got rearranged. 

I'm letting go of past hurts, because I know the truth. 

I finally gave myself a chance and I can say I love me too. 

Jessica Talley is a Coast Guard veteran and completed her Rite of Return with Veterans Rites in 2020. She assisted the April 2021 Rite of Return and was a witness at the 2020 June Rite of Return. She is in the process of publishing her first book, Flicker In The Dark, and a new book of poetry forthcoming. Jess is “a published author and a whole and celebrated woman.”