by Lisa Richter
I need to tell you about
the trees yes the trees
are unrefined, crude in their stance
like they’re pushing out hell
with their hips
like they’re tired of snowfall
weighing them down
like they’re tired of freezing
rain coating their ashen bones
and if the rain keeps
falling and freezing and melting
their branches will snap
the surprise off your face
they will pull up their roots
and storm off in protest
of the elements they’ve endured
of the buzz saw a city worker
was forced to use
they will stride across
the landscape to the amazement
of people who had thought them
pillars of static energy
never once stopping to hear
the scream of straining branches
— from Juniper Volume 1, Issue 1