REST ON THE EARTH

*
remember a sapling a dog a field

it is enough or too much

wild and wanting ripening

we grow apart the ocean it was became me

**

every morning

trees depend on your darkness

I feel the world explode or disappear

I let it

***

you reappear riding a rabbit

a small thing

the field needs a revolution

I feel the need to stomp and gallop

the field rides me

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SOURCE: McKuen, Rod. Celebrations of the Heart. Simon and Schuster, 1975.

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METHOD: This poem is a condensed erasure of one section of Rod McKuen’s 1975 collection Celebrations of the Heart. While I usually do erasures from prose sources, I found this book in my parents’ basement and it presented a true challenge and opportunity for transformation.

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M.A. Scott is a paralegal, clarinets, collagist, and poet who likes to spend time with trees. Her poems can be found in The Adirondack Review, Heron Tree, Dream Pop Journal, and elsewhere.

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Photo by Jonas Weckschmied