Winter Stalking Trees in NYC

J.J.Brown AuthorFebruary 3, 2013February 21, 2013death, nature, photos, poetrybooks, Central Park, death, dVerse, J.J.Brown, life cycle, Natural Supernatural Love, nature, New York City, OpenLinkNight, poem, poems, poetry, trees, winter

Winter Stalking

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white snow marks off black tree trunks

walking stalking trees too move

sharp stiff trees stare back at me

taller damp and green blue moss hidden

they watch my gray eyes

with their hazel ones in silent decay

their wet dark moist mold infected

outer layers protect a living core

selfish earth you reach up mangling

forcing entwining your new chances

to grow into gorge out and push apart

to conquer not just wood but stone

I sit on a flat stone but am not safe

it waits under your powder-blue film

of moss lichens clinging prying

here in the winter wood

injured tree and rock and I wait

for inevitable creeping clawing and smell

that acid smell of earth it’s everywhere

come to take in all of us the fallen ones

~~~

-J.J.Brown 2012, from Natural Supernatural Love

for dVerse Open Link Night http://dversepoets.com/

Published by J.J.Brown Author

Storyteller, public health advocate, and author of: Mosquito Song, The Finest Mask, Distracted by Death, The Doctor's Dreams, Vector a Modern Love Story, American Dream, Brindle 24, Death and the Dream, Stream and Shale and others. Find J.J.Brown stories in print and ebook editions at most places books are sold. View more posts

10 thoughts on “Winter Stalking Trees in NYC”

claudia says:

February 6, 2013 at 12:51 pm

felt decay here…the scent…your verse made me smell it.. cool pics as well..

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brian miller says:

February 5, 2013 at 10:50 pm

dang…moving…on the dead ones…there in the end…i really liked your imagery of the nature elements…easy to see and smell….

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1. J.J.Brown Author says:
  
  February 6, 2013 at 8:09 am
  
  Brian thanks, I sat on a rock a long time the day I wrote the poem – and could feel the decay happening there around me.
  
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Samuel Peralta / Semaphore says:

February 5, 2013 at 10:05 pm

Your verse makes it easy to imagine the roots of trees growing, moving, millimeter by millimeter, breaking through soil and rock and concrete, searching for water or space or sunlight with every microscopic stretch. Beautifully visual.

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1. J.J.Brown Author says:
  
  February 6, 2013 at 8:11 am
  
  Thanks Samuel, I’m happy it brings you “there”. Roots of trees and lichens – the little mosses – are so amazingly strong and important in the earth cycle.
  
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Delaina Miller (@DelainaMiller) says:

February 5, 2013 at 8:54 pm

Wow! This is the first of your poetry I have read and it won’t be the last. I can smell the earth and feel the wet ground and we have been in a drought since May.

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1. J.J.Brown Author says:
  
  February 6, 2013 at 8:12 am
  
  Delaina thankyou for visiting! I write more fiction than poems but I love poems the most.
  
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Victoria C. Slotto says:

February 5, 2013 at 7:49 pm

I savor nature poetry and imagery. The sounds of this one read-aloud” feel so good” in the mouth!

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1. J.J.Brown Author says:
  
  February 6, 2013 at 8:13 am
  
  Thanks Victoria, reading poems aloud makes them alive. When the poem comes to me it is always as a spoken piece, then I write it down. Great to meet you through dVerse poetry site.
  
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