Twenty-Six
As I pass through, I may touch ash, Hemlock, fir,
spruce, alder, maple, cedar, madrone, yew,
willow, dark myrtle, but — not you.
A speaker walks through a forested landscape, naming the trees they might touch along the way—ash, hemlock, fir, spruce, alder, maple, cedar, madrone, yew, willow, dark myrtle. The list is quiet and rhythmic, almost like a litany, and it grounds the poem in a particular, living place.
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