Poetry

Axis mundi, tree at the center of the universe

My writing lamp blinks off whenever it pleases.
Stay with me, little light.
Outside in winter coats, firs stand around.

 

They lean close to whisper windy chants
and show with apparent parental patience
why Native Americans call them grandfathers.

 

If such a tree falls in a forest
while other trees bend in the icy wind
and no one is there to hear—