The Seeds of Trees by Penny Blackburn
For a year I did nothing but collect –
beech pods, pine cones, maple wings, ash keys,
prickly burrs, husked nuts.
The following year I tilled the earth,
ploughed the clods to suppleness.
Dark loam darker against the waiting sky.
In the third year I planted.
Each seed placed carefully, pushed
deep into the repository of tender soil.
For the next half century I kept a close eye,
guarded against fauna or invasive weeds,
pruned where needed to give light and space.
In the end I sent a drone, high over the tree tops.
Showed you how I have spelled out my love
in verdant leaf letters.
Penny Blackburn lives in the North East of England. She has appeared in a wide variety of publications, including online in Atrium, Riggwelter and Ink, Sweat & Tears and in print with Poetry Society News and Fly on the Wall. She is on Twitter and Facebook as @penbee8. Her pamphlet “A Taste for Bread” was published by Wild Pressed Books in March 2021.