by Tony Schanuel
What the Trees Know
A 70-footer cracked in the storm last night
fell across the john-boat.
the pines know
the first white settlers on this forty
staked their claim at their peril.
we found the burnt circles
where they burned the tree stumps
to eke out a farm plot
after the pine barons had their fill
and hauled away
what they had already taken
from Chief Oshkosh.
Now,
thousands—
pencil rows
planted by city men in the 30s
escaping hunger
plucked from the soup lines.
they sawed old trees
making rustic structure in their wake
carved their initials
as they hoisted park shelters.
Taking, then putting
planted seedlings in the stripped forest floor.
You can drive forestry roads here now
looking down the comb-tine rows–
ghosts of old growth
murmuring in the wind.
When these trees are wind-whipped
they sway with their doom
that 70-footer
missed the house by inches:
matchstick snapping in the wind.
In the field no longer plowed
saplings rise.
Sooner or later
this house will yield.
Carol Lee Saffioti-Hughes, professor emerita from the University of Wisconsin system, also formerly a librarian in a log cabin in the north woods of the US, has poetry published in England, Canada, and the U.S. Recent work appears in Of Rust and Glass, Rosebud, Poetry Hall, The Awakenings Project, Moss Piglet, Ekphrastic Review, among others. Her most recent chapbook, When Wilding Returns, is forthcoming from Cyberwit Press. She is a member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, Spectrum School of the Arts, and Woodland Pattern poets. https://www.wfop.org/member-pages-nz; @graciousautumn on Twitter.
Tony Schanuel is an award-winning photographer and visual artist who has fused a professional background in photography, digital technology, and painting and mark making to create fine art that transcends those mediums. His work has been featured in Digital Imaging Magazine, Computer Graphic Magazine, Wild Heart Journal, St. Louis Design Magazine, and is a featured artist in Cyber Palette and Extreme Graphics, two books showcasing digital artists and their work. He has exhibited at the Florence Biennale and his art is held in private and corporate collections including the Fine Arts Museum of Houston permanent photographic collection. http://www.schanuelphoto.com/.