Remembering the Trees
Kauri Forest, New Zealand, 2013
It takes time to grow
a continent of rock, rooted
in ocean. Time
to grind and sift
a handful of soil for a seed
and two thousand rings of dense grain
packed into furniture, floor boards
a Whare, a house, the shaft
of an axe. . .
Kathleen Jones writes poetry, fiction and biography. She has two lives – one in Cumbria and one in Italy connected by Ryanair. Her first collection Not Saying Goodbye at Gate 21 won the Straid Award and she’s currently writing about the islands of the Haida Gwaii.
Against Remembering
In remembering, that which should have died
still lives. Remember your grandmother’s eyes
and fear will pass, they said. But what remains
is a fear that I will never again
be held so closely. All the hidden things,
the black telephone, last things – all return.
Learn history, forget: those red poppies
conjure anger. Memories of your face,
the knowledge that seven minutes later
I said those words – they’re all that now remain.
Clarissa Aykroyd grew up in Victoria, Canada and now lives in London. Her poems have appeared in publications including The Missing Slate, And Other Poems and Shot Glass Journal and she has been nominated for a 2015 Pushcart Prize. She is the author of a blog on poetry in all its forms, The Stone and the Star . Find her on Twitter: @stoneandthestar