MD Marcus
The Complicity of the Trees
Down here the oaks yawn upwards to heaven, stretch parallel
across the sky, then lunge back towards hell. The phantom
whining of insects nestle in the convergence of their branches, questions
which of these sturdy boughs, low and thick enough to climb,
loaned their strength
unbowed,
to support the weight of broken bodies. Did our fathers see Spanish moss
dripping from unread fairytales, or just another dead looking thing
straining against the immortal? How many tried gulping down
the sticky southern air, too little to fill their lungs, and mistook
these dark winding limbs as the arms of their ancestors
ushering them onto freedom?
MD Marcus is a freelance writer and poet who loves keys, the color blue, and a good nude illusion. Her work has appeared on Salon as well as in Rat’s Ass Review, Communicators League, Ariel Chart, The Literary Nest, Motherhood May Cause Drowsiness: Funny Stories by Sleepy Moms, among others. Please read everything she writes and visit her on Instagram or at mdmarcus.com.
The Complicity of the Trees
Down here the oaks yawn upwards to heaven, stretch parallel
across the sky, then lunge back towards hell. The phantom
whining of insects nestle in the convergence of their branches, questions
which of these sturdy boughs, low and thick enough to climb,
loaned their strength
unbowed,
to support the weight of broken bodies. Did our fathers see Spanish moss
dripping from unread fairytales, or just another dead looking thing
straining against the immortal? How many tried gulping down
the sticky southern air, too little to fill their lungs, and mistook
these dark winding limbs as the arms of their ancestors
ushering them onto freedom?
MD Marcus is a freelance writer and poet who loves keys, the color blue, and a good nude illusion. Her work has appeared on Salon as well as in Rat’s Ass Review, Communicators League, Ariel Chart, The Literary Nest, Motherhood May Cause Drowsiness: Funny Stories by Sleepy Moms, among others. Please read everything she writes and visit her on Instagram or at mdmarcus.com.