Inversion

trees dangle upside down from a sky
which is no longer sky
but mineral gem earth insulating us
from the various problems of birds

singing below     singing below
a reminder of the past kept
in the folds of distance

as I walk through blue & discarded clouds
I examine tree canopy’s swish
a froth situating my ankles

these shocks of green
everywhere     everywhere flesh
of leaves & stalks pertinent
to my arms & legs & face
an almost-substitute for people
(remembering when people
touched each other’s bodies)

branches are capillaries & how like skin
to be this dry & forgotten
like when you were here last
& I rubbed rose oil
into the difficult geometry
of your scars

____________

Nature’s intricacies inspire Carolyn Wilsey to write poems, sometimes surreal ones. She wrote this poem during the Community of Writers workshop, which was extremely meaningful to her. Mary Oliver’s idea in “The Swan” that the bird “pertained to everything” sparked one of the lines. Carolyn’s writing appears in Pretty Owl Poetry, Eclectica, West Marin Review, Quiet Lightning, and other publications. She has an MFA from Emerson College.