trees – POETRY and PLACES

Survivor Tree by Joan McNerney

Survivor Tree May 2011 by Joan McNerney There in core of the World Trade Center this pear tree stands. It grew from ash of bodies clasping hands falling in air. Cared for by those who believe in life. Now reaching for heaven despite the hatred of men screaming in streets. Look how sunlight touches eachContinue reading “Survivor Tree by Joan McNerney”

Going Home: New Orleans by Sheryl St. Germain

Going Home: New Orleans by Sheryl St. Germain for my grandmother, Theresa Frank Some slow evenings when the light hangs late and stubborn in the sky, gives itself up to darkness slowly and deliberately, slow cloud after slow cloud, slowness enters me like something familiar, and it feels like going home. It’s all there inContinue reading “Going Home: New Orleans by Sheryl St. Germain”

Revisiting Joshua Tree National Park by Carolyn Martin

Revisiting Joshua Tree National ParkTwentynine Palms, Californiaby Carolyn Martin Joshua fit the battle of JerichoAnd the walls come tumblin’ down . . . — An African-American spiritual The terrain hasn’t changed. The Cap still tilts.The Skull glares over a parking lot.The Jumbo Rocks? This careless pile nudgedfrom eons underground lazes in theContinue reading “Revisiting Joshua Tree National Park by Carolyn Martin”

Insect Life of Florida by Lynda Hull

Insect Life of Floridaby Lynda Hull In those days I thought their endless thrum was the great wheel that turned the days, the nights. In the throats of hibiscus and oleander I’d see them clustered yellow, blue, their shells enameled hard as the sky before the rain. All thatContinue reading “Insect Life of Florida by Lynda Hull”

Granada Park Love by Don Kingfisher Campbell

Granada Park Loveby Don Kingfisher Campbell My life has been a series of trees planted in soilOne has purple flowers nowAmidst the abandoned Stonehenge picnic area of my pastColumns rise but there is no roof, no shelterA tall tree has found its huggerA lone lamp in a green fieldThe only pathway surrounded by other arrangedContinue reading “Granada Park Love by Don Kingfisher Campbell”

Robert N. Coats, Searching for Arborglyphs

Searching for Arborglyphs by Robert N. Coats In the Jarbidge Range, my seventeenth year, I drove up dusty dirt roads, across clanging cattle guards, hiked into high meadows and aspen groves. There I found the spot where in 1929, Efrain Madariaga of Iparralde, Spain scribed his name, and a record of his loneliness and desire:Continue reading “Robert N. Coats, Searching for Arborglyphs”

Oneness by Vijaya Gowrisankar

Oneness by Vijaya Gowrisankar We had come for a weekend getaway to Nature Stay, around hundred miles away from the city The treehouse cottage was made of teakwood and stood tall and proud, symbolizing strength and grit We had porridge for breakfast before we left home Given the heatwave warning, we carried bottles of waterContinue reading “Oneness by Vijaya Gowrisankar”

Long Road to the Sugar Shack for Sugar on Snow by Tricia Knoll

Long Road to the Sugar Shack for Sugar on Snowby Tricia Knoll I stop my car in mud ruts from a thawafter a blizzard. Halfway to the shackwhere white vapor will be the happiest sightin Vermont in late March, last night’ssnowfall droops heavy limbs. The sun, our star of white on white,glares full strength inContinue reading “Long Road to the Sugar Shack for Sugar on Snow by Tricia Knoll”

In an Orchard on Thanksgiving by David Weiss

In an Orchard on Thanksgiving by David Weiss We walked out among the spurs of the apple trees, mending our lives behind with our life ahead. Moonlight lit the frost that was stiffening the field. A brook spoke for us mixing milky, metallic sounds. We picked the last apple off a tree, shared its white,Continue reading “In an Orchard on Thanksgiving by David Weiss”