Chain saw heavier, I cut arms
off skeletons littering pastures
and canyons after years of drought,
a battleground where old oaks lost
touch with water—most barkless now
tipped-over or in tangled piles
beneath authoritative trunks
begging purpose, begging cremation
or stacked close to the woodstove.
Old habits and rituals finally slow
as the limbs grow heavier despite
the pleading of the heartwood.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2022, Ranch Journal
Tagged age, cordwood, Drought, habits, oak trees, photography, poetry, rituals, skeletons, woodstove
Even the oaks that are still alive are pruning themselves. This Valley Oak lost its top Saturday night into the Holdbrooks’ driveway, either side of their electric gate, missing the solar panel and keypad pedestal. As a direct result of the four-year drought, trees and limbs of trees are falling on fences and into access roads everywhere. We’ll be packing chainsaws as we go.
Remember when it used to rain
and we made clouds of our own,
when the dryads played quietly
upon the dampened dust beyond
the bare boughs of oak trees?
The earth came alive with birdsong,
hawks soared in circles crying
with delight and we watched—
once again believing in deities.
Posted in Photographs, Poems 2014
Tagged birds, Drought, Dry Creek, dryad, dryads, oak trees, photographs, poetry, rain, water, weather, wildlife
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