Local poet responds to proposed tree removal for facility expansion at Lopez Island’s Odlin County Park
Whispers of the original Word
Found within the depths
Of bark, trunk, of sap and roots
And nestled in cone spirals.
Word made wood
Unique to planet Earth.
We have Irrational and
Soul needed connections
To what’s unseen, but felt
Between thee and tree.
Will there be a ghost vibration
When separation is enforced?
Will it seem right when
No legacy is left?
What else is there, only love?
Does the truth of love mean
Letting trees “Be”?
Is the story of Odlin
An epic?
Or a single song?
Might it be the promise of
One more seed?
What do those whispers
Carry and uphold?
The present tree
The seeded chance to
Sanctify another season?
The course of water,
Homes for squirrel, thrush?
The yearning toward tomorrow?
What goes with the tree
When Legacy is lost?
The insect’s hole and food?
The eagle’s nest, the vole, the hare?
The shade, the caterpillar’s cocoon?
The whispers?
The Island?
—By Brenda Asterino
Author of Pathways, Walking Through Creation with poems also published in anthologies and other newspapers, Brenda M. Asterino has spent about 10 years in the islands. A member of various poetry groups and the Lopez Artist Guild, she also shares her art and jewelry under the name Brenda Marie.