Humans Naming Trees
Jessica Goodfellow
| poetry
willow, sallow, blackthorn
thought is made in the mouth
quaking aspen, silver birch
pulse is mouth in the wrist
cedar, alder, slippery elm
wrist is grief in the making
camphor, blue ash, blister fir
myth is spindrift of grief
hawthorn, hemlock, paper birch
makeshift myth in the named
linden, rowan, tamarack
name: oh torque of the tongue
red spruce, torch pine, slash pine
pine, pine, pine, pulse, pine
[“Thought is made in the mouth” is a quote from Tristan Tzara.]
Jessica Goodfellow’s books are Whiteout (University of Alaska Press, 2017), Mendeleev’s Mandala, and The Insomniac’s Weather Report. Her work has appeared in Verse Daily, The Southern Review, Motionpoems, and Best American Poetry 2018.