Walk into any forest, caress
bark, moss & twig
speculating a diagonal: this
compass & glimmer,
illumination of a well-
wrought painting. You’ve learned
to ignore tinder, secondary
growth, invasive species underfoot.
All is trampling, conscription, your
so called DNA. See woods this deep
& everlasting, not each tree, as if
individuated leaves might be
praised, not forgotten by the barest
touch of you who is touched, non-
stop brambling behind your eyes.