Anne Whitehouse
The Essence of Trees
Aunt Louise listed her garden chores on a chart
in the laundry room next to the garage
where she tended her collection of bonsai.
In the careful work of repotting each tree,
she found and trimmed its feeding root.
How the roots are pruned affects the growth,
reducing and slowing the process.
If the roots feather out, fine as lace,
the tree will not outgrow its container.
Some trees grow in ridges, with long lifelines.
Some have trunks that swell smoothly.
Consider the difference between juniper
and pomegranate. No pine is like another.
Light must enter the branches for buds
to regenerate. Starting from the inside,
she removed old, dry foliage with a tweezer
and left new growth. Her practice
benefited from her methodical nature.
It took two years for her to master
the techniques of bonsai and the rest
of her life to comprehend
the unique language of each tree.
Balm
A parade of goats clambered down the path,
bells clanging. Between two cliffs
jutting out to sea was a green valley
with a gray road like a fallen ribbon
surrounded by palm groves
and little houses like white sugar cubes
sprinkled down the slope.
The ocean crashed against the cliffs,
frothing white on dark blue, and puffy
white clouds massed on the horizon
beyond the shadowy shapes of distant islands.
The air smelled of sweet juniper, as I bit
into the soft flesh of a ripe fig
and basked in the warm sun.
A Dog’s Life
Come down to the lake with me.
Real winter is here at last,
ice crystals and freezing fogs,
the sun so bright it hurts my eyes.
Veils of mist like gossamer silk
drift over snow that blows over ice
where our dogs chase after each other,
making the most of what they have,
be it a stick or a snowbank.
Anne Whitehouse’s new poetry collection, Outside from the Inside, will be published by Dos Madres Press, and her chapbook, Leonora and Lee, about Leonora Carrington and Lee Miller, will be published by Finishing Line Press.
Aunt Louise listed her garden chores on a chart
in the laundry room next to the garage
where she tended her collection of bonsai.
In the careful work of repotting each tree,
she found and trimmed its feeding root.
How the roots are pruned affects the growth,
reducing and slowing the process.
If the roots feather out, fine as lace,
the tree will not outgrow its container.
Some trees grow in ridges, with long lifelines.
Some have trunks that swell smoothly.
Consider the difference between juniper
and pomegranate. No pine is like another.
Light must enter the branches for buds
to regenerate. Starting from the inside,
she removed old, dry foliage with a tweezer
and left new growth. Her practice
benefited from her methodical nature.
It took two years for her to master
the techniques of bonsai and the rest
of her life to comprehend
the unique language of each tree.
Balm
A parade of goats clambered down the path,
bells clanging. Between two cliffs
jutting out to sea was a green valley
with a gray road like a fallen ribbon
surrounded by palm groves
and little houses like white sugar cubes
sprinkled down the slope.
The ocean crashed against the cliffs,
frothing white on dark blue, and puffy
white clouds massed on the horizon
beyond the shadowy shapes of distant islands.
The air smelled of sweet juniper, as I bit
into the soft flesh of a ripe fig
and basked in the warm sun.
A Dog’s Life
Come down to the lake with me.
Real winter is here at last,
ice crystals and freezing fogs,
the sun so bright it hurts my eyes.
Veils of mist like gossamer silk
drift over snow that blows over ice
where our dogs chase after each other,
making the most of what they have,
be it a stick or a snowbank.
Anne Whitehouse’s new poetry collection, Outside from the Inside, will be published by Dos Madres Press, and her chapbook, Leonora and Lee, about Leonora Carrington and Lee Miller, will be published by Finishing Line Press.