Poetry
Green
Joyce Rain Anderson
issue five
It’s summer
and the trees are in full leaf.
I once had a Lakota man
ask me “how did you Indians see
anything with all these trees?”
I laughed.
His territory in the Plains
has landscape that is vast and beautiful
It’s beautiful here, too
where the trees hide secrets
invite us to sit in their shadows
Children draw trees that all look the same
rarely do they notice the difference
in a leaf or bark or branching
Each has a place, a purpose
Most of the blossoming is done now
small fruit has appeared
with promise
Soon the green
will give way to red or yellow
But now it is time to relish
in full green leaves
catching the light
transporting the wind
We listen
as they share
their whispers
grounding us.
About the Author
I’m a professor at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts where I teach first-year writing, rhetoric courses, Indigenous studies, and a portfolio course to help students prepare their work for a professional audience. I’ve also facilitated writing workshops in my community. I speak to students about observing what is around them, writing in journals, and then use that as ways to find poetry.
Most of my poems come from doing those things. In the morning, I rise early and watch light sifting through the leaves and find a poem there. When it snows, I am struck by the way the flakes reveal pathways through the branches and wonder about following them. These are the things found in my poems.
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