Eric Haskell – Gnarled
Years of growth,
desert winds gusting, constant, dry,
bringing enough debris for trees to hold
to rock for dear life, life of endurance,
year after year. Insects sucking sap,
birds pecking holes, rodents
chewing bark, as the pinyons
suck sand, as the junipers chew sun,
hoping for the weak’s survival–
to survive the century.
Growing on a good year,
lightening raw slickrock,
wedging a crack, its roots biting for space,
as animals crawl on its skin.
It weathers, wrenches its chlorophyll
towards the sun, twining to avoid snow,
twisting again to catch rain,
gnarled.
Eric Haskell
March 21 1990 Earth First!