TREES (A-Z April Blog Challenge)

The first poem I fell in love with hung on the wall in my Nana’s house.  It hung there all my life, so I most likely fell in love with it soon after learning to read, around the age of 7 or so.  It hung on the stairway wall on the left hand side, six verses separated into three frames so you read the poem in stages going up the stairs.   

I have loved poetry ever since and the power in the brevity of words (although I recognize that some poems can be quite long).  I don’t mind admitting that I am a total poetry novice.  I like what I like, have written very little of it, and had one poem published in a poetry challenge by Rosebud Magazine.

Each day begins for me with a poem delivered to my inbox from Writers Almanac.  It’s a way for me to start my day with thoughts outside of myself, a glimpse into a moment for someone else, and sometimes, that magical connection that happens when reading it is like looking into a mirror.   

I only knew one of my grandparents and I didn’t have a very strong connection to the one I knew.  But I never think of my love for poetry and this poem in particular, that I don’t think of Nana with love and appreciate the gift she gave me.

TREES

by: Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918)

I THINK that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.