Poetry

From Issue V (2020)

After

by HEATHER SWAN

(for Stella)

There among the silences
find the ghost tree––

the split black branches making
fissures in the clearing.

Watch as the fog dresses
and undresses the wounds,

the suppuration of bark,
so raw underneath.

The birds can find
no purchase.

Scavenge the esker,
make a circle of stones,

kneel down wreathed in
feather and bracken.

Prepare to knit yourself
back into the world.

Maple Tree (Seattle, WA) | CHRISTOPHER HARRIS
*iPhone photograph, 2019*

Chestnut Tree (North Dartmouth, MA) | CHRISTOPHER HARRIS
*iPhone photograph, 2019*

Heather Swan

Heather Swan’s poetry and nonfiction have appeared in Cold Mountain Review, About Place, Resilience Journal, Edge Effects, and elsewhere. She is the author of The Edge of Damage, Where Honeybees Thrive: Stories from the Field, and A Kinship with Ash.

Christopher Harris

For twenty-five years, Christopher Harris has photographed the landscape of the American West. Represented by Platform and Seattle’s Harris Harvey Gallery, he has also enjoyed one-person shows in Manhattan and Portland, OR. His website is chrisharrisphoto.com.