A Tree Trunk Seat
A Tree Trunk Seat
(For Gary Snyder)
1
Winding grains of time
under a crystalline sky
we have walked along these paths
trunk sits as big rock
wide muddy makes up this world
wandering aimless through muck.
Wonder where you are
agony, madness, or free
additions of each broken year
memory troubles
the children have had children
the saplings are now adult.
Light splits open field
beautiful body of wood
descend through these ancient beds
tiny in the heights
maybe start from this nothing
where once stood complexity.
Grave of many heirs
along each circular path
a twisting outward spiral
a wren lands to sing
songs that are here then are gone
songs that simply purify.
Here to sit upon
sap from ancient still remains
smooth stretch of delicate down
filters into air
this trunk a centuries work
once a tree witnessed an axe.
On trunk nebula
to walk up and across on
this curse on humanity
trunk laughs at man’s trails
nearby a hawk on boulder
moves ever slightly towards wren.
2
A man sits on trunk
woodpecker no longer near
man begins to write poems
unspeakably slow
layers and layers held tight
within this book of trees life.
Maybe this wisdom
cracks of red dry rot powder
sharp top and jagged as saw
destructive termites
feathers from old migrations
trunk gave up long time ago.
On the ground coiled snake
next door manzanita bush
a long slow meaningful life
seasons in the wood
flowers fade and bloom again
trunk stood silver in the sun.
He sits cross-legged
pledged alliance to rot
will sit overnight in the rain
to hear deer noises
crackling in the bushes
locked never lifted to air.
Solid heart wood cores
count dark rings to calculate
total number of the years
sit watch cycles
here from stone to flesh to ground
where love is the true wisdom.
On slope near rock edge
corruption, decay, and death
he has stopped to think of these
dream people walking
deep in the heart of the wood
bare and open here alone.
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These are just magical verses Jamie. I can feel the trunk growing older in certain spots. I’ve always had a tree trunk in my.backyard I used to sit on and contemplate a very many things. Nice work.
An excellent read, Jamie. I love old tree stumps to sit on as stools or use to hold plant pots etc.
Well done, Jamie. Your skillful expressions create a vivid imagery of the stump and the life that goes on around it.
Thank you Paul, John, and Phyllis. Jamie