Phoenix Trees

(to be read from the roots up)

into a fresh spring breeze.
pump pollen
and
on bare branches
wriggle
will
catkins and new green leaves
Soon
roots and shoots.
branches,
slender
resilient
and
stubborn
spread
storm,
by a
over
bowled
toppled,
having
trunks,
Crumbling

Kim M. Russell, 2017

jennifer-vranes-new-beginning

Jennifer Vranes – “New Beginnings”

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: New Beginnings, also linked to earthweal open link weekend #51

Mish is the host for the first Poetics for 2017. She says that the New Year has a way of restoring our hopes and aspirations, nudging us to set new goals, follow new dreams and create ‘new beginnings’. Mish is inspiring us visually with the help of eight artists. Although the titles of their work may be very similar, each piece is an example of their very unique styles. ALL artists were contacted via email and have kindly given permission for us to use these specific images for our prompt today. All we have to do is choose the piece that speaks to us and let the words flow. We may be moved by more than one.

I chose a piece  by Jennifer Vranes, who is “best known for her large and vibrant paintings of Aspen Forests and European Landscapes. Her trademarked technique of using a pallete knife to ‘sculpt’ in thick textures has become a favorite among collectors and Art Galleries world-wide.” ~ For more about the Jennifer Vranes, go to jensart.com

66 thoughts on “Phoenix Trees”

  15. The combination of “to be read from the roots up” and the title referring to the phoenix who rises from the ashes is brilliant. And, you engage the reader with your parenthesis directions and we follow your lead. This is just excellent! 🙂

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  22. I read this top —> down being hard of hearing where instructions are concerned, and I liked the effect! It made me think of a magnetic poem, and the way a tree might speak, flowing though not grammatical. I think I prefer the down version to the up!

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    1. I re-read it after all that time and agree that it’s like a magnetic poem and, read aloud, it does sound like a tree might! I’m currently looking at the willow with its last few leaves sparkling in the winter sun, thinking it would speak like that.

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  27. What a fresh idea. I don’t normally like form poems like these (is that what they’re called?) but this has such a sure and lifting arch to reading ground up. So much depends on how we see and sing!

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