#mentalhealthmonth #susanstrasser #amwriting #susanstrasserblog
Did you know that May is mental health month? And here I am, still writing poetry like its April, which was national poetry month lol It’s all good. Anyway, I met a tree lately that lost a third of its trunk, yet THRIVES!
This one is still alive
Hard to believe, I know, its gap, its hole is the entire trunk on one side, for God’s sake.
the chasm— the chamber— the hollowed-out orifice— THE CAVITY.
I assessed the situation.
I took a picture in high res:
Dead or alive?
In a long moment of study, I followed the trunk to the branches until I saw…
LEAVES!
Oh, my Health Hike is not in vain!
Yep, those are theirs, not the neighbors contributing to the green canopy!
Hollowed-out, Holed-out, emptied out, pulpy guts half-scooped and scraped out like a pumpkin at Halloween, readied for its state of being:
Holy Tree.
Did the park service do this?
Was there an injury that was tended to?
Did two rangers or arborists save this tree or is it a sign of Mother Nature’s resurrection?
Self-care? It is a clean wound.
The Forest’s fresh leaves,
Holy Tree,
Nourished by its buried guts, innards, insides, and rotted heart parts.
Hallow, whole-low…whose guts were the seeds
Holy, Healthy, Happy like me.
susan strasser 