This poem celebrates the agricultural diversity of North Carolina, from the farmlands of the golden leaf to the rich Indigenous history deep rooted in the swamplands.

by Tonya Holy Elk | illustration by Stu Fjellanger

Tonya Holy Elk (Oglala Lakota/Lumbee) is an Indigenous poet, author and educator who lives in the swamplands and farmlands of southeastern North Carolina. Her creative work can be found in the North Carolina Literary Review, Indigenous journal Yellow Medicine Review and various North Carolina poetry anthologies. Connect with Elk on social media @tonya_elk. “There is so much diversity in this part of North Carolina. From the farmlands of the golden leaf to the rich Indigenous history deep rooted in the fertile soil of the swamplands; I wanted to capture its beauty with words.”

Illustrator Stu Fjellanger is an illustrator and lives in Raleigh. He graduated from Minneapolis College of Art and Design with a BFA in Design and has an MFA in Illustration from the University of Hartford, CT. Fjellanger works with a variety of mediums such as printmaking, digital tools and mixed media. He has taught art, design and digital art at Meredith College and in various secondary schools in North Carolina. “I really enjoyed illustrating the poem ‘Harvest Time.’ Being from the Upper Midwest, it was exciting to create images based on the poem’s rich, colorful description of crops common to North Carolina.”

This article originally appeared in the August 2025 issue of WALTER magazine.