The Trees Do Not Point

A news response poem

Photo: Suzanna de Baca

Autumn rain cuts in cold gray streaks,
stripping amber leaves from maple branches,
blowing pine needles to the wet ground.

Just a moment ago, it was summer: lush 
colors and humidity exploding, fecund plants 
expanding, a hothouse of balmy animation.

But I blinked once, twice, and the oak yellowed, 
dahlias wilted, corn stalks faded and dried
into crisp parchment stalks, standing like soldiers 
in the fields, soon to be cut down into stubble.

How fast the seasons shift, dancing day to day 
between life and death. Yesterday, warm sunshine 
beat down, shining on the tall prairie grass.
Today the air is bleak, sharp, bone chilling.

I drive slowly along a timber-lined gravel road, 
alert for running deer. A tender fawn bolts 
from the woods. She stops before me, terror 
in her soft eyes. She hesitates, as I do, confused, 
looking left, right, down, up, contemplating 
which way to turn. We are both begging 
for direction, as if the tree canopy will lead
us from danger to a place of safety.

But the trees do not point. They only whisper,
leaves fluttering in the raw wind, saying brace 
for bitterness, face the winter head on, keep 
moving ahead in the chill of the rain. The fawn
leaps across the road and glides gracefully
into the dark woods, vanishing up a steep hill,
braving the damp, dusty funeral march of fall.

News response note: How quickly things change. Last week, it was summer, this week autumn; last week peace, this week, war.

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I’m proud to be a member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative:

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup

Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny

Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines

Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

Letters from Iowans, Iowa

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities

Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar

Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines

Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids

Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines

Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines

John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines

Macey Spensley: The Midwest Creative, Iowa

Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

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