November Notes

The sweetgums are first
to let loose their leaves–
natural capitalists
who spend their days
on the stage of the forest edge
taking in all the sun’s applause
they can as their stars fall
like betrayed values.

Behind them, dogwoods blush,
lose heart(s), bewildered
by the cruel cold to come
and buffeted by gusts
of shifting winds.

And before they know it,
maples, elms, and willows
join in the contagion of disgust
about the changing landscape,
shiver and drop their leafy virtues.

Then, slowly, even the old oaks,
forest elders, lose their true colors
to the blows of cold fronts
and, one by one, toss aside
what made them what they are—

And stalwart are the pines,
those towers of wisdom
who resist, insist there is goodness
rooted in life that is grounded.
Bending but not breaking,
they hold their arboreal diligence.

Ever green, these are the trees
to believe in, the teachers
who know that unseen upstarts
can redress the forest’s losses,
as long as hope, honor,
and nature hold until spring.

NEWSLINKS: U.S.News&WorldReport, Campaign Legal Center, Fair Play Talks

AUDIOLINK: SoundCloud

Find this and Anne’s other news-inspired poems at PoetwithaPressPass.com, Soundcloud.com, and Substack.