by Karen George
Sky, trees bathed
in horizontal sun-stripes
wave after thick wave
running contrary
to the forest floor
the ground holding
the weight of all
that radiance.
In the foreground, the lower trunks
break into bands of glow.
Whole sections of distant
thinner trunks obscured.
In the center, one tree bends
genuflecting or collapsing.
The longer you look
you realize trees are twirling
in place so fast
you can barely detect
their motion
the entire forest
a live vortex
a torrent of orbit
rings of ecstasy
spiraling
against the damp mass
of nearing night.
— from Juniper Volume 3, Issue 2