When I Go Into the Woods
When I go to the woods
I bring no books along
preferring instead to read
the primary sources:
the opinion columns of pines
persuasive essays by incense cedars
an array of novels from oak trees.
Quaking aspens are poetry of light
and movement.
There is philosophy in fallen logs.
I study the hieroglyphs of former
wildfires to glean memories
of the Before time.
Even dead trees have purpose
as nurseries for animals and plants;
the rhymes arising from them
are kissed by the wind,
then float away.-Kathryn Harper