Antarctic Poem #4: Tree Rings

Tree Rings

How I long to escape
the mysteries of my mind

to crawl out of my
rabbit-hole body
and float

unlatch from the well tangled
roots of 32 years

peel away the bruised bark

and be cast again
with the vulnerability of rendlewood;

the gleam of innocence...

to be nothing more than
the pure radiance of my
raw, authentic self.

An escape inward.

A journey
through the rings
of my twisted trunk.

Back before the sap of experience and
survival became my shield
and armor.

Forward
to the discovery of truth
in every branch, bud and leaf

of beauty in every knotted wrinkle.

To plunge deep and with intent
into the soils of humanity.

To live.

Fully and without remorse
as my own lover,
my own friend.

For I am the seed,
the sapling,
the tree and the stump.

I am here.



This poem was written for an assignment using these three words: rendlewood (which is wood that has had its bark removed), escape and root.