The Mysterious Farmer
Fresh paint
and a newly tended field
and yet
never a soul in sight
Who cares for the farm
in the forest valley
and do they only
work at night?
Always well kept
tidy and clean
and yet not a soul around
surely it’s not ghosts
that do all the work
and yet not a soul is seen
Let It Rain
Let clouds dip
closer to earth
heavy with moisture
ready to be released
let the chill wash
of rivulets and drips
slide down over
flesh and hair
and each
blade of grass
to clean away
the old and create
something
fresh and new
Prompt: Pull (at least) three cards use them as the foundation to write about the life of a sentient tree.
Justice – Once, the large Douglas Fir had lived in the center of a vast forest, but man had slowly cut into the forest again and again, until eventually all that was left of the forest was a few acres of land. When the workers came to begin clearing his spot, he watched them work with great sadness, following their progress as they took down his smaller friends and uprooted the earth around him.
As the day grew long and the sun eased closer to the horizon, the contractor pushed for more work from the men, demanding more done and the last tree to be removed. When the man with the chainsaw came, the old bark of the tree groaned and branches snapped as bows were shifted to allow the man closer to the trunk, and at the first nick of blade to bark a low groan of bark and wood was accompanied by rustling… and the man’s chainsaw was found lost on the ground… the man somehow gone.
Wheel of Fortune – No one saw what happened as the man had gone beyond the boughs of the fir tree in order to get close to the trunk, and after a short time searching, it was assumed the man had left and it was decided another would take his place. Here again when the man got close and went to cut into the tree with the chainsaw, the man disappeared, the chainsaw dropping to the ground to tumble out from under the tree and yet another search was done.
The third lumberjack went into the tree to do the same as the first two, but this one makes sure that to have others watching over him. As he starts the chainsaw, he takes a moment to look up, and drops the chainsaw as he begins to scream. The two other men that had tried to cut down the tree are suspended more than twelve feet in the air, impaled on broken branches sticking out of the trunk.
As he watches, fronds of fir come down and bend in, and as the watchers watch on they scoop up the man with the chainsaw and lift him high, hugging him into the trunk and impaling him on another broken branch high up along the tree’s trunk.
The Sun – This is how, as humanity came to invade upon nature’s turf, certain spots remained left untouched. As land was cleared and what might have become the last forests in the world cut down, it came to be that some were preserved after all. Parks and hiking trails, protected land and forestry. For it was when nature finally started to fight back, that man realized that she was no longer going to allow for the abuse that gone much too far.
Man learned at last that they must live in harmony with nature, and the Douglas Fir in the forest remained where it was, happily protecting the land upon which it stands for centuries to come.
The Little Queen
Giants grow
fat and tall
flanking
and trying
to overpower
to take the show
and snag attention
but sometimes
it’s not about
how much you’ve got
but rather
what you do
with what you have
The Lure
A lure toward chill air
that cools sweat on skin
as the hike comes
ever harder
and altitude higher
Hours pass while
trees grow sparse
and the ground
becomes bare stone
And I hear the call as it
whispers through trees…
Higher
Keep going
Silver Skies
Fluff and swirl
against gauzy film
turns sky
from blue
to silvery hues
As cotton balls
drift
like airy mountains
insubstantial
and massive
sliding from view
The air is cold
Twisting the Leaf 