Saturday, June 9, 2012

The Morning Reading: "some other gift the tree might hold"



Limen
by Natasha Trethewey

All day I’ve listened to the industry
of a single woodpecker, worrying the catalpa tree
just outside my window. Hard at his task,

his body is a hinge, a door knocker
to the cluttered house of memory in which
I can almost see my mother’s face.

She is there, again, beyond the tree,
its slender pods and heart-shaped leaves,
hanging wet sheets on the line — each one

a thin white screen between us. So insistent
is this woodpecker, I’m sure he must be
looking for something else — not simply

the beetles and grubs inside, but some other gift
the tree might hold. All day he’s been at work,
tireless, making the green hearts flutter.


*

Trethewey was named U.S. Poet Laureate this week. 


(woodcut of woodpecker by Betsy Bowen. )

2 comments:

Lou said...

For the door knocker, she deserves the honor.

Rebel Girl said...

Yes.

Plus she made me look up that word "limen."

Thanks for reading.

 
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