This tree bears no sin unless cracked limbs offend God.
Its red ripe glistens the long lipped grass.
Wing blades pass the clear dark
arched to green pain; rain rivers run;
we back into the coiling kiss
leaves swarm through us.
Dew scales shimmer wet in the morning twine
of silver tongued sparrows;
wind rakes our bare empty
windscape howls; roots snap.
We freeze in the light lap of frost,
naked to the scratch of berrythistle,
naked to the owl moon pass,
afraid to be naked.
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More About
Jo Nelson
Jo Nelson has been a writer in residence for the Washington State Arts Commission and has taught German, French, and English in Maryland and Colorado. She now writes, farms, and teaches poetry and writing workshops. Her poetry and prose have been published in numerous National magazines and anthologies, including the
Chariton Review,
Dream Network,
Santa Fe the Sun,
Out of Season,
Poetry Seattle, and others.
Jo is one of 6 poets in
The Seattle Five Plus One, an anthology published by Pig Iron Press. Her poem "Tuning the Interior" was used by the German Composer Johannes Schmidt-Sistermans in a composition for German radio and another at the knitting factory in New York.