A Tree Worth of Leaves

Discuss the poem A Tree Worth of Leaves with the community...

https://www.poetry.com/poem/175125/a-tree-worth-of-leaves

1 Comment

 

Notify me of new comments via email.

Publish

• 

  Jewoo525

  I appreciated the contrast between, what a reader would expect to be the majority in a poem titled as such, the words that invoke nature imagery and the unorthodox choice of diction that feels... somatic. Or rather, anatomical and clinical almost. The contrast initially felt jarring- I wasn't sure what the writer was personifying- why the rake? It added to a sense of unease that somehow needs to lead to pancakes... In this confusion and re-reading, the meaning of the poem dawned on me. In invoking such contrasting imagery and subverting traditional associations, I felt that that writer was brilliantly pointing out how we collectively assume nature to be a "utility" for us to exploit rather than another "life" we are actively nourishing ourselves off of. It's not necessarily a bad thing- just something we all seem to forget and become less aware of. Perhaps as a symptom of modern conveniences. When we look at a bottle of maple syrup, we forget it's the distilled life-blood of a real living organism. Trees are real. They are living things. We're spreading tree blood onto pancakes.
  
  The word choice makes sense, the dichotomy of choosing what to personify within the piece and what not to make sense, and the uneasy vibe of the poem from start to finish makes sense as well. Very strong poem overall. If you just started writing, it's hard to tell from the excellent literary choices you make. You have something really cool here. Keep writing! more »

  LikeReply4 months ago