Oak

We were all of us empty of its heft and Tammy could tell.


     •


Being she herself was ( wildling ) ( loosestrife-weed )
( undaddied ) same as us.


     •


Flung chaff-motes that we were
she saw to tell us time and time that yonder oak its bark and bulk.


     •


She harped on it; she rendered.  Instilled-
elucidated treeness piece by part.


     •


Have I said yet ( howsoever she’d’ve told us ) it was never it to her but him.


     •


As in I school myself I climb the bluff I followfeel the roots of him.  They river-
bound They gnarlin’ up from mud [ black pluff! ] He veins the bank.


     •


Some say.  Word was.
—That her ( fleetblooded ) actual daddy jacked the toll-thru ( humps the trains ).


     •


She dwelled on it; she brooded.  Elaborated-
fleshed for us especially much his arms.


     •


How one mossy brawn-span she favored
had been scathed ( engraved along its length ) by lightning.


     •


How the long-muscled ( strict, striated ) river-hanging-over one would hold.


     •


You could loop a rope there Nearabout the bicep
Whap you up a wide horsehead knot to grip.  To ride good Rid fear Let’s
not feature no blackflow flowin’ down below.


     •


Cling strong till your hands numb till your blood goes.
Swing low.  You could bellow you could holler while you’re at it ( Bending with you
not to break ) You could set yourself swayin’ till kingdom come Till he hears you till


     •


he weighs you.  You could ring rightful like the tongue of a bell.





Originally published in The Threepenny Review. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.