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Poetry | April 2010

Tree

By Kirstin Hotelling Zona

The men are beautiful,
mute and efficient in white

sleeveless T’s, biceps bulging
like the slick soybeans

my daughter loves
to pop from the pod and eat.

Mama, do I look sexy?
she wonders at four

then wants to make herself bleed
to prepare for the pain of giving

birth. What should I say?
Dear girl, don’t fear the hurt

as we watch from her bedroom
window, one thriving limb at a time

cut whole from the wide sturdy crotch.
Instead, she turns to me.

The chipper whines
and sucks, too insatiable to feed.

5 replies on “Tree”

Bob Broadsays:
April 13, 2010 at 11:17 am

Dear Kirstin,

Thank you for the greater gift of your poetry to the world, and thank you especially today for your poem “Tree.” I find the poem elegantly manifold and inscrutable, calling me back to re-re-read it. Thank you for making us stop and hold in our gazes trees, sex, childhood, the flow of time, soybeans, innocence, biceps, chippers, and poetry.

–Bob Broad

Reply
Kathleen Kirksays:
April 13, 2010 at 2:07 pm

As I told you, this is an “ouchy” poem for me, though I love how you say “don’t fear the hurt” in it. I love the progression from white beauty to wood chipper and how it makes me quiver.

Reply
Regina Grabrovacsays:
April 13, 2010 at 6:09 pm

Oh, I had to reread the last part over and over, did she really mean chipper…oh how that hurt. real images, strong symbolism. Thank you!

Reply
Ricardo Cortez Cruzsays:
April 15, 2010 at 10:27 pm

A strong current flowing across the current of literati, Kirstin is special among people persons and poets (the makers of things). Kirstin’s work branches with the best of them, exploring the turbulence always there in rivers of thought. Fortunately for us, her poems ultimately/inevitably carry the same kind of wonderful, giving energy that characterizes her in daily life. I mean, she got all sorts of limbs (tree)hugging us. It feels good to know how much she cares.

Reply
larry bauersays:
June 5, 2010 at 6:03 am

WOW! I’ve always told my students that poetry should raise questions for the reader. You centainly raised more than a few questions with this poem. Nicely done.

Reply

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