Elder RiverSoul, emeritus professor of biology, keeps the memory of his deceased wife Imogene alive through readings of her published poetry.
RiverSoul explains the inspiration for "Big Old Cottonwood" comes from "the house my parents bought, moved onto a lot in Onaga (Kansas), under a huge cottonwood tree, and completely renovated. When the tree blew down in a big wind and rain storm, I counted 99 annual growth rings. Mother lived many years of her widowhood in that house. "
Big Old Cottonwood
They bought the lot because it stood
to shield them from Kansas storms.
Little did they know how much
there'd be to shield against.
Sturdy-trunked, rough-barked, its
dark limbs climbing one another
through light shimmer of leaves:
no other tree grieves quite so well.
Framed by this sill stark
as a Wyeth window, it stands
against the losses of a lifetime:
a skeleton of tree-house hanging on;
the skin off bold, young knees, now grown...
to the death-closed mouth of him
who chose and loved and cursed
all in the same breath
its very size that defies pruning.
And now, still, even in this gentle
summer breeze, it moves as if to shelter
her who, mourning, stands bereft, alone
against uncompromising sun, the wind
and rain and hail: the sting of days.
Life asks enough, even of trees.
--submitted by Elder RiverSoul
"Big Old Cottonwood" appears in Earthbound, Bottom Dog Press, 1989.
Image by Lynn Greyling from Pixabay
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