Somewhere among Others

349 total words    

1 minutes of reading

In the wooded den of a local park

Named by a man who has not lived

Half the lifetimes of its giant dusky-limbed ancestors,

Barren tree colonnades circumscribe the shorn-footed paths,

Flinging wide their aisles in trust.

This place has been named passive

For its low development and I cannot help

But wonder over how it yields for us.

Apart from the worlds we make in our minds

There is right here another more primordial one

Growing alongside the vast tracts of highways

Burrowing through the passages of deep time.

Here, where these sylvan sisters rejoice in their Spring nudity

Shy but never ashamed.

No matter the dermis of flayed tree bark

Swinging in the shaded wind, disclosing its hollowed entrails,

No matter the newcomers with calorie tracking devices,

Oldcomers with their slow and lowly gate, no matter who does or does not take notice.

Here, are the braided vines sprawling atop the emerald campus

Of early shrubs bulbing their diminutive heads.

Here, is the scalped crown of timber bearing an effigy

Of a wounded lord of nature omitted of hands

Watching over this earthly haven

Of bitter soil and darkened wood

And other countless slain, vouchsafing their cambium

Pulverized to rubiginous dust.

Here, contiguous trunk plinths rounded as requiems

And lattices of wooden crucifixes,

And a bonfire made of thick limbs above the creek,

The timorous flow of water beneath.

Here, the towers of oaks and lindens bearing

Their fresh foliage as wreaths,

The interweaving of hands,

The mothers who push their wisdom into the plexus of their young

In the community of life, death and rebirth,

And giving and giving away.

And in all the world making for itself a name

Praises for the anonymity of this ecology,

The life that is satisfied to move in the night

And make a celebration of endarkenment.

And of all those in the world making for themselves names,

Have I ever dared to be unknown; to be one simply satisfied with belonging among the many of others?

Reprinted from Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations, Vol. 3: Partners.

  • Manòn Voice

    Manòn Voice is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, a multi-hyphenate--poet and writer, spoken word artist and filmmaker, actor, hip-hop emcee, educator, and community builder. The spirit of her work finds its niche at the intersection of arts and activism. She has performed on diverse stages across the country in the power of the word and has taught and facilitated writing and poetry workshops widely.

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