As part of my attempt to get better at writing poetry to prompts, a tree theme came up at a recent poetry reading in Second Life- so I decided to write a tree poem.  A poet friend of mine, John Lanyon, described how he deals with prompts, by finding what resonates in him with the subject matter, and I found that I had a dear friend who always seems like a wonderful oak tree to me. So here it is: 

Portrait

You are like an oak,

Your roots sinking deep

Through the rich darkness,

A great toe, seeking the foundations,

Flowing honeyed sunlight

Into solid rock,

A million filaments gathering

From below, to above

Where scented, bee-filled foliage

Breathes and reaches.

Somehow, at summer’s end, the light

Becomes blessed and golden

Filling your so hard-won length

With grace and strength,

Even as the musky sweetness

Of the first yellowing leaf

Drops lightly to the forest floor.

Here's another poem with a tree-sh theme, very much composed in a moment of interaction with another person during a very intense weekend workshop. not sure if it stands up out of context- but I kind of like it anyway. 

Acceptance – poem of a moment

If I allow this into my two

Open arms, to hold

Ever so lightly,

Will it become me? Or not?

Does the tree, in whose branches

The lowering sun expands

And mellows into redness,

Ever own the sun it holds?

Or does the sun’s light turn

Green and liquid in

Those sappy veins,

While the red sun looks on

Wishing it could be in there?