Invitation
The hollows and rough edges on elm trees
the startled up-look of a deer
the shallow whisper of the creek
Come with me and see!
200 tones of green
from emerald to scum
whitegreen underside of oak-leaf
greenblack shine of dogwood
slick green rocks
softgreen moss
Come with me
lift the stones suddenly
if the crawdads
will startle us
prod the soft rotten log
come with me and
whisper secret names into the hollows
half-glimpse fairies
half-hear gnomes
Come and follow the narrow path
Swing a stick-sword
swoop away the spiderwebs
or else they'll snag our mouths
and eyes
invisibly
tiny spiders jeweling us
Come and hear the complete quiet
the hush of high-up branches in the air
the careful step of our own small feet over the earth
Come and greet the forest of my twilit child-time.
(I challenged my students to write invitations based on Leaves of Grass (Thanks Kenneth Koch!) and I wrote one too. What's the point of having a neglected blog if not to post poems?)
the startled up-look of a deer
the shallow whisper of the creek
Come with me and see!
200 tones of green
from emerald to scum
whitegreen underside of oak-leaf
greenblack shine of dogwood
slick green rocks
softgreen moss
Come with me
lift the stones suddenly
if the crawdads
will startle us
prod the soft rotten log
come with me and
whisper secret names into the hollows
half-glimpse fairies
half-hear gnomes
Come and follow the narrow path
Swing a stick-sword
swoop away the spiderwebs
or else they'll snag our mouths
and eyes
invisibly
tiny spiders jeweling us
Come and hear the complete quiet
the hush of high-up branches in the air
the careful step of our own small feet over the earth
Come and greet the forest of my twilit child-time.
(I challenged my students to write invitations based on Leaves of Grass (Thanks Kenneth Koch!) and I wrote one too. What's the point of having a neglected blog if not to post poems?)
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