"there was a man who found two leaves and came indoors holding them out saying to his parents that he was a tree.
to which they said then go into the yard and do not grow in the living room as your roots may ruin the carpet.
he said i was fooling i am not a tree and he dropped the leaves.
but his parents said look it is fall." ~russell edson
photo by fallout75 on flickr.
A Russel Edson fan, eh? Don't come across that very often. He's a favorite poet of mine.
ReplyDeleteThen he picked up his leaves
ReplyDeletewalked outside
dug his toes into the dirt
and grew 100 feet tall
birds nested in his branches
and told him about flying over the ocean
he danced with the wind
but felt he was going nowhere
when he cried
his tears smelled like sap
come away with us
his bird friends said
he flapped every branch
and they creaked and cracked
every leaf tried to fly
and off he went with a flock
of old sea gulls
the sea air was salty
he no longer smelled like sap
he smelled like ocean tears
he swooped and flew
creaking like an old house in the wind
branches would crack off and
wave goodbye as they floated away
in a storm every leaf blew away
ran back home or drowned trying
he was naked and alone
diving earthward
splash
his branches dug into the sandy bottom
fish tickled his naked branches and he giggled
his roots above water
his toes like snakes
like Medusa frozen to stone
one of his old seagull mates
looked down and said
"Oh look it's fall"
i believe you have just dashed off a great piece of literature, a best seller with your illustrations accompanying it. i love that he just uproots himself when he "feels he's going nowhere." you are amazing, my friend.
ReplyDeletegerry... you're a russell edson fan too? i bet you like ivor cutler too, or would if you haven't happened across him yet...
ReplyDelete