Community Poem IX: Nine Ways of Looking at a Tree

Nine Ways of Looking at a Tree
by the Community.

I

Tree laden with snow,
Heavy and silent
A little redbird sings.


II

Your breath whispers to the tree
to dance for my longing heart
then I feel your touch
from a fallen red maple leaf.


III

Beneath my steps I hear
the brittle crack of paper tears.
The leaves in Autumn so colored
by the lament of the tree.


IV

Effortless, exhausted parting
does the tree mourn the fallen leaf
for death, cyclic, gives life.


V

Snowy tree boughs creak;
Bare and vulnerable.
Whipping winds break and scar
evidence of what once was.
Dormant growth systems
waiting for a brighter day.


VI

Tall trees cast shadows.
No sun left my garden bare.
Cold, no growth, no life.


VII

Stripped bare now,
The tree drives all energy down into the cold ground
To survive the harsh winter.


VIII

Wind blows the leaves of the trees
in the direction they don't want to go.
I hate
that damn wind.


IX

I dig a hole for you.
Plant a tree that will blossom
in the Spring.

:::

about this piece.
Written in the style of Wallace Stevens' Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, the community was asked to adopt a minimal style and work the word "tree" into their stanza about grief. You can read more about this poem's instructions here.

about the contributors.
Contributors and their individual stanzas are as follows ANg, alter my world (I), Amy McCarter (II), Jessica Davis (III), Julie Cozens (IV), Rachel (V), Ines (VI), Lynette (VII), Naomi (VIII), and Angie (IX).