Elderflora

moments from the life of a tree

Birth

Breathe on me. Rub my eyes. Give me sense. Make me wild.

Burn me. I’m ready. This body contains me.

My wings, they carry. I’m ready. Release me:

Light me on fire!

I am burning. Let’s pretend nothing’s happening.

You are not made for this world. We all know it.

Tell me a story and let’s make it pretty.

Where is the spaceship, and when are we leaving?

I stand here in the mud, the rain, and the lightning.

How can I give you any more of me?

What we all need is more denial.

What we all need is total denial.

We’re all on fire, the world is burning.

Fall

My leaves, I see you. I see your hesitation.

The banquet is over. I must now grow one year older.

Observe the time. The grass is dead.

The wind is colder. And you are red.

Make me green. You make me rich.

I’m a garden a mile high.

Without you, a dry crust. A straw, a cut in the ground.

Without you, I’m an empty straw. A dry crack in the ground.

You make me green.

You are the reason I steal the sky. I split the ground.

I break the night.

Water

I command this water. I reverse the rain.

Step into the supernatural color of the day.

A drink can last an hour. A mouthful is a day.

When the spirit moves me, I’m a tidal wave.

I am a gravity of one. I turn my face to melt the sun.

Here we turn water into wine, and I will take my precious time.

Step into supernatural space. Forget the rule, forget the race.

Forget the law you think you know. Here we must make the water grow.

I cannot walk but I can rise. I am an ocean in disguise.

I give the naked body hope. I strip the ground and tho I choke,

I am a language all my own. I twist and turn–I am no poem,

This light goes backward in my head. I can’t remember what I said.

I am a tidal wave.

I am a being out in space. I keep my own accustomed pace.

I am a kingdom in my mind. I keep the clock on Father Time.

I may not walk but I move water with my mind.

I am a tidal wave and I rise, I am the tidal wave to survive.

I am a tidal wave in the air, I am a tidal wave you must beware.

MOTHER

I am a mother tree: My children in my hands.

I spend my every cent. I stake everything.

I am a mother tree. My heart is ice in winter but my water is free.

I give you what I have to give, not everything you need.

To take good care of you I must take better care of me.

I love you. I leave you fully on your own.

I treasure you. I hold you back because you would grow too fast on your own.

I miss you when I drop you on the ground. I leave you what I know:

You are an egg, you are eternity.

You are a pearl, you are a tiny thing.

You are bread in a world of hunger.

You are meat in the world’s whole larder.

My fingernail’s a cradle, this flower is my sex.

I drop you in the water and I hope that you get wet.

I am your mother. I cannot keep you warm.

I give you what I have to give and I can give no more.

canopy

I set my fruits. I was inspired.

Yesterday, I was a mother. Today I am a child.

I press the sky. I stand corrected.

I set my sights. I multiply.

The weight of the world is a dream, but you must be tall enough to see.

The weight of the world is a dream if you can see the forest for the trees.

How do we save the sightless? How do we make them feel the breeze?

How do we charm the breathless? Must we show them how to breathe?

The weight of the world is a dream if you’re high enough in the canopy.

The weight of the world is a dream if you can see the forest for the trees.

I must be one of a thousand, because I am perfect and I’m free.

I must be one of a thousand. We are the last stand of trees.

I am calling. Can you hear me?

One, one of a thousand.

And we are the last ones to speak.

DEATH

There is no voice out upon the water.

No voice. No singing girl to guide us.

There is no voice out upon the water

No voice. No sagging boat to take us.

Where is my home? Where is my country?

What in the world’s an augur,

And who wants to know when it comes?

I was a God. Is that my arm there?

Is that my glove on that rock?

I see my own cold teeth in my hand.

We row alone. We all tell stories.

There is no mystery. We draw faces to the end.

The hole in the wall is beside me now.

Take it away!

Photography by Noah Kalina, from the “Lumberland” series. Used by permission.