Thanks to Christie at Wondering and Wandering for hosting us today. And for the fabulous topic of TREES.
I have a love for trees. It goes as far back as 1970 when I lead our first Earth Day activates as a high school senior. I did a happy dance when Christie offered the topic of trees as today’s focus.
Trees in summer, trees in autumn, trees in winter, trees in spring. I follow the seasons by what the trees are showing me.
These are a series of poems that I’ve been working with lately.
Invitation
branch
leaves
twist, twirl
in the breeze
inviting neighbors
to climb pathways to the sky
Golden Solitaire
a
leaf
dangles
on the branch
golden solitaire
reminding us of autumn’s song
Shifting Seasons
last
night
the autumn
wind shifted
bringing down my leaves
snowflakes gathered around my trunk
Entrance
each
day
lengthens
wintry nights
my leaf pods nestle
and wait for Spring’s announcement
Sunrise
spring
green
birds chirp
at sunrise
leaves unfold and reach
as a heron dives for salmon
Cacophony
the
dark
of night
peepers chirp
in chorus like bells
in the distance, howls and sirens
~jone rush macculloch
And one more just because
Have you been reading our #DearOneLBH”s poems to soothe the loss we are all feeling? Next week Amy at The Poem Farm will be leading the poetry tribute for Lee. Find a poem. Grab a line. Write a poem.
Jone Rush MacCulloch 
These are wonderful, Jone! I feel like I’ve just taken a long walk in the woods with you. 🙂
Golden Solitaire is my favorite, too. So evocative.
Jone, these poems with personification have great imagery! I especially like the two poems that include frogs. I love trees and listening to frogs! Thank you.
What’s nice about reading your collection is that I feel like I’m among the trees…each poem a tree with ideas overhead. They are lovely, your tree poems. And, they are so kind in their invitation to the reader to come into their presence. Lovely writing, Jone.
Beautiful collection of poems and images Jone! I especially like “Shifting Seasons,” “Entrance,” and your line “my leaf pods nestle,” thanks.
Jone I loved the personification in these poems here.
These are a wonderful collection of tree poems. Are they fib poems? Such a great use of the form.
Yes.
Your photos are gorgeous, Jone, and I love your collection of tree poems. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but “Invitation” really speaks to me.
I loved journeying through the many aspects of trees which you have so finely noted, Jone. Thank you!
These are wonderful, Jone. I especially love “Golden Solitaire” so lovely!
I have a love for trees, too, Jone, especially huge ones that can bring a class of little ones to settle in with a book. You captured each season visually with your collage and then, I found a variety of poems. You have been busy and fruitful. I want “to climb pathways to the sky” and watch the “leaves unfold” with you, Jone. Simple lovely!
Trees…I’ve always loved them. The highway department has evidently decided that there are too many trees on a section of Rte. 1 that I love. It always has gorgeous color in fall and nothing but trees to see. They have hacked away at the sides of the roads and chewed up trunks. It looks awful and I am saddened every time I drive that way now. Sigh.
Oh, these poems. Solitaire, I have the perfect photo for that. I posted it on FB long ago. And your poem captures that moment And Invitation. I was never a tree climber (fear) but thought it a great thing. Now I love seeing squirrels race and play, climb and jump. Working on my poem. Have a few lines to consider. Such a great idea. Tribute. Remembrance. Sadness, yet joyful, too. So much rolled into one loss. Big question? Who fills these shoes? Who becomes the Pied Piper? No one can be Lee, not possible. I want to go to the Penn State Center for the Book and hopefully there will be a huge celebration, maybe a conference so we can all gather (well as many as possible)…..he touched so many lives.