Paper Birch
You come to nature and see
yourself.
In likenesses, say:
bones and books and dresses,
cream-sheath, pearl-shine sheeted
so-and-so of the woods.
Can you see us without
the pen in your hand?
The way we love a long winter,
our trunks swathed white
as defense against
too much light.
The way something can still burn
in the coldest season.
How narrow our shoots
how pure the stand,
rarely alone
raised from summer ash
in call and response.
A clarity of birches. An overland.
Lifted
(like a veil?)
as quickly as your childhood.
Paper Birch by Jennifer K. Sweeney | Sandalwood and Rose Poetry Reed Diffuser
Jennifer K. Sweeney is the author of four full-length books of poetry, most recently, Foxlogic, Fireweed (Backwaters/University of Nebraska). A collaborative chapbook of question-and-answer poems with L.I. Henley, Dear Question, was released from Glass Lyre Press in late 2024. Honors include winning: the James Laughlin Award for How to Live on Bread and Music, a Pushcart Prize, the Backwaters Poetry Prize, the Perugia Press Prize, the Terrain Poetry Prize, the Elinor Benedict Prize, two Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Awards, The Ledge Poetry Award, and a nomination for The Poet’s Prize. Her poems have been translated into Turkish and published widely in literary journals including American Poet, American Poetry Review, Poetry Daily, Verse Daily. She teaches poetry workshops at The University of Redlands in California.
