Trees of the Wood by Charles Haddox

Hourglass, the whirlpools on water.

Sun glitter

for clover moths and yews. Their rising helices

embrace a fiery oak in autumn.

I’ve seen the hills with breathing seams,

constellations of milky ash, dense, meandering valleys,

sheltered royal corridors,

and in Atenquique,

precipitous uplands,

leaping,

leaping,

but never such festivity—

illuminated bath, bristly marsh, and the trees

fully singing—

their branches,

hairspring stairs for crows to reach their nestlings.

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Charles Haddox lives in El Paso, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexico border, and has family roots in both countries.  His work has appeared in a number of journals including Chicago Quarterly Review, Commonweal, Perspectiva Popular, and San Pedro River Review.