- One of my favorite trees is in Berea, Kentucky. This is a terrible photo of it, but it is what I have for right now.
- Here it is again, in high contrast black-n-white.
I
am told this is a Southern Red Oak and it stands very tall with
long-reaching limbs along the edge of a field with other nearly as tall
trees. Red has a lightning bolt scar down its side, and he leans a
little into the pain it left behind. He reaches out to the left for the
nearest tree to help him stand up straight, but all the other trees are
just out of reach, for now. I have sat cross-legged on blankets under
his limbs practicing my banjo, playing John Henry, Redwing, and Little
Birdie. I have wandered here in the middle of the night when I could
not sleep and laid down on the grass to look up at the stars. I have
stood looking at him and wondered if he and my dad had the same
strength. I have written the two together into a long poem, memories
entwined with the leafy limbs, arguments caught in the roots,
familiarity climbing the trunk, and forgiveness as heavy as stones
scattered among the acorns and dandelions.
Are there any trees
that have captured your feelings? Did one symbolize a relationship, or
became the foundation of a friendship?
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