Cerebral Quercus

The Assignment: Write a poem using the tree of life as inspiration.

Don't read too much into this.  Given that it only took me about 15 minutes to write, it's not exactly my most thought provoking piece.  But it was a  fun experiment, and the results were quirky to say the least.  Enjoy.

"Cerebral Quercus"

I sit at the base of an ancient oak that whispers at twilight,
half-light, day and night converge, a quiet breeze, crisp fall air, here my questions merge.

How did curiosity kill the cat?
And why did satisfaction bring him back like an addict that can’t get enough?
Questions haunt.  Answers nag, craving resolution.  The answer is somewhere in the tree.

So deep run the roots.  Let me be grounded.  So tall are the branches. Let me reach for the sky.
Such a commanding presence has the trunk of the tree, fully present as it weathers any weather. 
Let me be here and now, ever present, ever aware.

A single leaf falls to the ground clothed in hues of gold and red defiance.
Tumbling downward it calls out to the others, “We are Autumn.  Resistance is futile.”

I am what I am why I am.


© April Milam 2012

(Quercus is Latin for oak tree.)

A Rewrite

Some of you may recognize the first part.  Revisiting old things, this felt in need of a rewrite.

A Human Becoming

I am not a human being. 

(That would imply something stagnant.)

I am a human becoming. 

(I grow with the passing of time and circumstance.)

To be or to become, that is question.

For if I be, then I stay in my comfort zone that’s safe.

And we were made for so much more than that.

But if I become, then I grow, face my fears, my life, and know.

I am not a human being.

I am a human becoming.

Authentically, courageously, honestly, vulnerable and compassionate. 

Strength and struggle, connected by community, experience, and spirit. 

I am who I am, not a collection of suppositions.

I am not a human being.

I am a human becoming.

I live and love when it’s hard, when it hurts, when I doubt,

when it’s good, when it’s great, 

when it’s so much more than I could have imagined.

A soul that searches and struggles honestly

Inviting grace, joy, truth, and freedom in the process of human becoming.

* * *

~ by April Milam © 2006 - 2012