Control

Winner of the NH Witty Poets poetry competition. Theme: Laozi: Humility and the Way of Following.

Unity is unanimity
in the face of a cull.
Your fruits on the ground,
branches unmoving;
The squirrels break them open
and you are under their...

True are their powers,
and agency's their own.
Yet true are your roots
and symbiotes—
no tree is ever alone.

Together you mast;
Predators you enthrall.
Through this abundance,
you have finally gained....


Next year, you give them nothing
and let the hawks hunt.
From many, your predators few,
leaving near nothing to crawl on you.

'tis the oaks' lesson
to the human soul:
Be rooted with patience
and take it all back,
so the predators
finally see it all;
Richness, stability, drought, and fall
The oaks' have always had full...