i would rather be an oak than a eucalyptus
For the Poetry Train this week, my offering is a poem based on a freewrite I did a few years ago out on Santa Cruz island, one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Ventucky. It was published in Artlife Limited Editions 20th anniversary issue as a concrete poem in the shape of the tree (which you can’t quite tell by this scanned image). I am not talented enough
as a blogger to make a concrete poem in this space yet!
If you’ve read any of my recent posts about rituals and burning maybe you will see why I chose this poem for this week.
i would rather be an oak
i would rather be an oak
coast live oak: quercus agrifolia
hundreds of years old
a graceful granary for acorn woodpeckers
but to be a eucalyptus
wouldn’t be bad
i would grow fast & furious
vast horizontal branches
extending toward sunrise
& yes to the stars
heavy with leaves
i sweep the ground
i would be a huge billowy sail
with the wind we would r i d e
you could swing your way up to my crow’s nest
we’d find our way
you could hang on my branches
& bounce back
i would cover the ground with
my rich intoxicating menthol scent
a thick carpet of leaves
nothing can compete
the earth embraces me
damp & cool
i would be young forever
my peeling bark would never betray my age
a new skin every season on my limbs
freshly shaped & pruned with each passing storm
my leaves would never go gray
but always red & tawny, crisp & fresh
i would be home to virginia
great horned owl: bubo virginianis
sheltering her
she protects me from
corvus corax: raven
ravenous, raucous, rude
hidden in my branches, she perches high
scoops up unsuspecting
spermophilous beechiyi: ground squirrels
devours them, digests them, regurgitates them
my carpet of leaves decorated with
skulls, ribs, tibias, teeth
no you wouldn’t leave children with me
i would be a grand & ferocious eucalyptus
elegant, colorful, intimidating
a maiden aunt not a matriarch
until a freeze does me in or
a fire weakens me and
fallen i become
porch for house wren
yard for sceloporous occidentalis: blue belly lizard
balcony for tyranus verticalus: western kingbird
nursery for peromyscus: deer mice
bench for humans
a blaze on the beach
my ashes would drift
& i would travel the earth
don’t brush me aside
let me land on your tongue
& you have me forever
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I would like to call it a zen like thought. I like this a lot.
http://firmlyrooted.blogspot.com/2008/02/coiled-and-cocooned.html
My favorite part comes at the end when the tree still realizes its lifespan continues in its fallen and firewood forms. A nurturing and Mother Nature-like feel to those last stanzas.
thank you both for your comments!
i hadn’t thought it as zen like before! but i think i see what you mean!
and yes, julia, i remember writing the poeice and having it evolve that way, discovering that in the wriitng process, and i really like that. it’s a fun poem to read a loud too, it’s performance oriented.
I like the soothing feeling to this poem, and I would say like Gautami, it sounds zen!
And imagine it, what a tree could tell us of history when some can live 200 years!
I like it, it’s a hopeful poem. :)
I like how you imagine the whole ecosystem here and the fact that as Julia says the life of the tree continues past its falling down
A wild ride through the adventures of a tree. Lots of vibrant energy.
I love the interwebbing of the latin genus through the poem..
I love all the wonderful descriptions!
You could get cuddled by Koalas if you were a eucalypt too, it is very performance oriented in its long swung out rhythm but also a kind of performance as a poet in the words, it asserts its poemhood quite forcefully but does so with intelligence and a skill level that justifies its assertion, poem documenting performance as tree, cool,
thanks for all your comments!
interesting that you notice the performance aspect paul as i wrote this after experiencing slam and performance poetry at the Taos Poetry Circus! and was definitely influenced by that