by Michelle Terry, with additional editing by Cody James Tracy
Earth Day 2021
. . . gale-force winds brought down two
large trees snapped them right over
along with a clutter of branches and twigs . . .
I’m at the Lexus dealership
in Northborough Massachusetts waiting
for my car’s first oil change when Otis Redding’s
Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay comes on the radio
immediately dropping me back 51 years
to Earth Day 1970 –
I’m on the Wagner College campus a month
before graduation and I’m with my brother Kerry
and we’re planting a tree
in honor of Earth Day, the very first Earth Day.
My brother’s dead now all these years later
cold in the ground but I hope
the tree is still alive thriving in the sun
he’d like that too.
Michael Estabrook’s most recent collection is Controlling Chaos: A Hybrid Poem (Atmosphere Press, 2022). Retired now writing more poems and working more outside, he just noticed two Cooper’s hawks staked out in the yard or rather above it which explains the nerve-wracked chipmunks. He lives in Acton, Massachusetts. https://michaelestabrook.org/.
Michelle Terry is a dreamer, storm chaser, and forest bather with skinny dipping still on her bucket list. She is an accidental poet and photographer who suffers from shiny object syndrome with a penchant for getting lost in strange places. Michelle’s debut poetry/photography book, Windswept, was published in 2022. She also takes photos and writes for Kansas! magazine, Topeka Lifestyle, and Topeka Mag. Her poetry, nonfiction, and photos have been featured in Front Porch Journal, Snapdragon Journal of Art and Healing, and Schuylkill Valley Journal. Her photograph here, Eywa, is the result of a colllaboration with additional editing from photographer and artist Cody James Tracy. When she’s not working in healthcare or wrangling a family, you can find her in a Kansas garden picking weeds wearing a sundress and mud boots. Visit her at Instagram @mamamickterry and @hiding_owl_diaries or at www.mamamickterry.com.