Poem of the Day: "Spokesperson" by David Pring-Mill, Frequent Contributor

Spokesperson

David Pring-Mill

When a branch sways

and its leaves rustle,

it agrees to become

a spokesperson for wind.

The tree translates

the message of each gust:

"My client has the urge

to gently remind you

the air you breathe

travels

over oceans,

and birds travel upon

the breezes that whisk

away your words,

with all those lost sentences

flowing somewhere

under feathers.

And when you exhale,

another inhales,

and there is something delicate

about all these things,

so please,

be delicate

as this dried yellow leaf,

which now must drop,

to become the mulch

beneath your sneakers."

Poet's Notes:  My poem "Imperfect Arms" was published earlier this year by Songs of Eretz Poetry Review http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2016/03/poem-of-day-imperfect-arms-by-david.html. In that particular poem I looked at the role of trees within the world. In "Spokesperson," I decided to depict the role of wind within the world, and because air is such an intangible thing, I allowed trees to facilitate the expression.