A Clear Cut Horizon
A Clear Cut Horizon
a.
Clear cut mostly dead
forests of Montana logged
a bare hillside erosion
just two seedling firs
so many logs trampled earth
a human rutting season.
In a bitter dream
employee crushed by lumber
before green comes out of ground
morning birds squabble
many ancient forests gone
carried away on log truck.
This employee killed
lives on as middle class home
hung on hook American
built up by these men
hillside of San Francisco
or near woods of Seattle.
Snow melt on fresh stumps
generator near brush-pile
rumbles like this bravado
could cause a wildfire
as the Swede starts the Cat
today a thousand board day.
b.
Pine trees grasp for air
once fire resistant Lodgepole
where flame kills the tree not seed
would open their cones
where scarred land would bring new life
now barren even to grass.
Cats drag roughened stumps
the groan of machinery
lifting dead roots from the ground
now dried and useless
sound of metal against wood
large wheels roll flatten the earth.
Between remaining
stumps we try to live our lives
our cows will no longer eat
our families leave us
like pine removed from hillside
not one fir seedling remains.
Worker stamps his foot
stands up his thousand boards
“Soon you will all be polished.”
Remember when Pine
fell on thinning underbrush
skid of bark slipping on bark.
c.
A young bear cub stares
at empty world of no tree
frozen by the sudden change
falls down on all fours
runs back towards an Aspen Grove
towards Mother and Siblings.
Each dawn is cleared more
the frost from cold morning still
Diesel engine blows black smoke
on lackluster land
smoking boulders and steel tracks
some grass peering from the mud.
Wild horses now stand
where once was a row of Pine
Chipmunks fled awhile ago
only Black Ant left
a Black Ant carries egg
where Yellowjackets circle.
Above crushed dead log
a small supply of pitch ooze
the hot bare land seems brittle
like black lava flow
no more green limb sturdy Pine
butterfly on barren ground.
For more works like A Clear Cut Horizon and other works by this author visit
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You can also find works by Jamie Lee Hamann on HubPages
- Soft Shock of Apples Falling - April 22, 2024
- American Earth Haiku - April 10, 2024
- Practice Art of Seeing - March 31, 2024
A great piece expresses the sorrow of forest loss which is so bad for the environment. It is an ecological crisis. Well done, Jamie, with excellent phrasing.
Thank you for your kind comment Phyllis. I am grateful and I appreciate your support. Jamie