THE OAK by John Grey

Simon BB

THE OAK

The tree is alive.

So alive I check

whether I’m being followed.

I knock on the trunk.

The sound goes in.

Something absorbs it.

It does not come out.

The bark shifts.

It’s rearranging.

The tree is deciding

which face to show me.

Underground, it’s busy.

It drags its roots through old bones,

Above, its branches twitch

thought there is no wind.

I seek acknowledgment.

That’s why I carve a heart into its side.

And the sap beads up, thick and amber.

It’s like an eye trying to open.

Try as I might to add my initials,

the tree rewrites them

into something it prefers.

Something older.

From long before my time.

And the canopy reaches for the sun.

Its devotion is almost predatory.

Why not?

Isn’t worship just hunger in disguise?

No teenage theatrics,

no need to be seen.

The oak is just a tall, patient body

reaching for the light.

The light makes for a good meal.

The tree plans to swallow it whole.

© John Grey

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John Grey

John Grey is an Australian poet, a US resident, and has recently been published in Midnight Mind, Novus, and Abbey. His latest books, “Bittersweet," “Subject Matters,” and “Between Two Fires,” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Alchemy, Touchstone, and Willow Review.

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Spring’s Reassurance by Snigdha Agrawal

 

Vicky T M

Spring’s reassurance

Spring arrives with a grand flourish
Jasmine bushes burst into bloom

Perfuming the air, nourishing the mind

Creating an aura of divine 
Yet, her mind lags behind

Vines twist and tangle,
thick as can be
even the old wicker fence
sprouts new green leaves
Yet, her mind lies infertile 

She mutters, “Unfair!
Nature runs wild.
Even bald trees regrow
After a while!”

Why has her mind died?

Spring, with a knowing smile, replies…

“Be kind to yourself, dear one.
Just like the bloom waits for morning's light,
You, too, will blossom, 

When the time is right”.

© Snigdha Agrawal

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Snigdha Agrawal

Snigdha Agrawal (née Banerjee) holds an MBA in Marketing and has over two decades of corporate experience. She enjoys writing in all genres, including poetry, prose, short stories, and travel diaries.  Educated in Loreto Institutions, run by the Irish Nuns, and brought up in a cosmopolitan environment, she has learned the best of the East and West. She is a published author of four books.  Her works have appeared in several anthologies and e-journals, published in India and overseas. She has recently been nominated for the 2024 Pushcart Prize in poetry.

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Hallowed Ground by Laura Rodley

 

Jill Wellington

Hallowed Ground 

 

She lifts her arms to the unbending sky

seeking light, edged out by older trees,

the beech lifts back her head,

swallows the air; crowded out,

her two arms stretch to caress 

the clouds, leafed out or bare,

and there she stands, day in, day out,

even though a surplus branch

fell across the path and woodpeckers

feasted at the wound. She holds 

for me what I cannot, patience, 

unquestioning gratitude, the mouths

of her leaves open, her roots thirsty.   

© Laura Rodley

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Laura Rodley

Pushcart Prize winner Laura Rodley's latest books are Turn Left at Normal by Big Table Press, Counter Point by Prolific Press, and Ribbons and Moths Poems for Children, winner of the Children's Nonfiction International Book Award and medalist for the Moonbeam Book Award for Children's Poetry. 

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