Yet Another Poem About Trees

By Larry Needham

“Ah, what an age it is
When to speak of trees is almost a crime
For it is a kind of silence about injustice!”

—Bertolt Brecht, “To Posterity”

 

Before the jar
the anecdote
and Tennessee,

wilderness.
Forests primeval,
grim and awful—

extravagant
as first growth
imaginings.

The Dark Ages.
Then dominion
bleaker still.

Maps, surveys,
plots, deeds, sub-
plots, divisions;

trees measured,
monetized,
milled to spec;

scaffolding
raised up, torn
down, tossed into

the burn barrels of
histories
declining on

the ash heap
crematoria
of woodlots

warming the near
reaches of
advancing night.

_____

Hard to admit
the bleak truth of
a twilight

premonition:
Birnam Wood
departing

that one cast shade on
clear-cut fell
ambition,

slash-and-burn
madness, doubtful
illuminations

kindled in darkness,
guttering in
airless corridors,

all talk of
tomorrows
sucking up

the oxygen,
and, at the end,
no one left to

breathe a word about
equities,
justice or

what followed in
un-natural
succession:

birthright woods
supplanted and
the newly planted

contracted to
an oak on crutches
and hollowed-

out sycamore, mere
stand-ins for
a tired allusion.

_____

The witness
to dark times
wasn’t wrong about

its silences,
indifference,
cold imperatives,

having weathered
the flood—too avid,
perhaps, for landfall

too hopeful of
olive branches,
rainbow signs and

fruitful generations-—
unmindful of the
fire next time,

new dark ages and
a certain justice in
our sad leave-taking.

In blindness or
naked disregard
he was not unlike

the rapt poet of trees
and makers before
The Great War who

couldn’t see death in
the Aisnes and Ardennes
forests for his Trees

and never thought he’d
ever see an end to
first-growth woodlands

or dream that there
could possibly be
future times without

green canopies,
sublimity, poems,
posterity.

 


Larry Needham is a retired community college teacher who has published on Romantic literature and the poetry of Agha Shahid Ali. His work has recently appeared in a handful of online journals including: Amethyst Review, The Alchemy Spoon, and Miller’s Pond Poetry Magazine. He lives in Oberlin, Ohio.

Photo credit: Thomas H via a Creative Commons license.


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U-turn

By Sarah Waldner

 

Sharp U-turn on the language around
fossil fuels. The text now includes a reference
to “low emission and renewable energy.”
New funding arrangement on loss
and damage. Phase-down of unabated
coal power. Concrete demonstration
that we really are all in this together.
No one will be left behind.

Sharp concern on the low wage around
solid rules. The text now includes a preference
for “dough addition and immutable density.”
New crushing pavement over loss
and damage. Gaze-down from unabated
coal power. Concrete demonstration
that we really are small in this weather.
No one will be left behind.

Sharp heartburn on the sandwich around
possum duels. The Etch-A-Sketch now includes a mess
for “pro magician and chewable elderly.”
New hush-hush engagement of fox
and cabbage. Chase-down of underrated
troll chowder. Wet feet explanation
that we really are all Paul in this dresser.
No one will be left behind.

 


Originally from British Columbia, Canada, Sarah Waldner is currently residing in the Ontario area where she is a student at Trent University.

Poet’s note: The first stanza of this poem is comprised of direct quotes from a BBC article about COP27 and the speakers at the conference within it: Climate change: Five key takeaways from COP27 – BBC News.

Photo credit: James Saper via a Creative Commons license.


A note from Writers Resist

Thank you for reading! If you appreciate creative resistance and would like to support it, you can make a small, medium or large donation to Writers Resist from our Give a Sawbuck page.