Patsy Asuncion
A Universe of Belonging - Excerpts
Long Breaths of Trees
​ Trees are sanctuaries…They do not preach learning and precepts,
they preach, undeterred by particulars,
the ancient law of life.
- Herman Hesse
She stands silent allows
temperate ribbons
of air to muss her premature leaves
born this last month
of winter
Mother Tree observes
surrounding ponds
pardoned early
from frigid imprisonment
black bears awakened
before alarm buzzes
precocious teen birch trees
with fully matured limbs
Undeterred by particulars of centuries
massive tree roots rest in infinity in life-giving
force to her blended family
oak saplings grizzlies pileated woodpeckers
wood mice bark beetles carpenter ants
The symbiotic forest tribe
bends as one around season creep
of uncertain global changes caused by men
focused on finite turfdoms
Universal Language
Inspired by Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks
Two million years of musical
rhythm compose visceral
understanding underneath
man’s survival stance
a spontaneous response
like turtle hatchlings drawn to sea
Even before language melodic tempos captured all cultures
a human flesh denominator
In the womb the unborn dance
to notes and beats inherent
as honeybees dancing towards
a food source Harmonics tie
all groups People move
in collective excitement all cued
by rhythms internalized as one jukebox Concerts marches dirges
choreograph brain waves
like birds in formation
like fish in schools
like monarchs in migration
Tune transcends disease People
with aphasia sing with Tourette’s
drum with mental disturbance dance
with dementia remember
Music fights back Man’s humanity
survives without symbol or instruction
​
​
Black Hole ​
cold-hearted air running hastily through the
void ​
​
refugees resist approaching visceral fog last
breaths
​
tumbling in destiny’s wake vulnerable trees
pace
​
in frantic helplessness lush forest bed alive
with
​
dead skeletons of fallen leaves from hardened
limbs
broken branches scattered crushed decayed
deliberate carnage burying careful doctrine
partisan scriptures proclaiming connections
regiments uncover signs in the murk
torches of truth diminishing
into oblivion swirling
darkness abyss
ravenous
Ivy Creek
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Bleached conifer limbs scatter
in twisted piles along my path
half covered by leafy centuries
their khaki secrets whispered
season to season
among the creatures that crawl beneath
Annual death toll disguised
by stately elm wide-armed oak prolific poplar the ground stippled with ostrich and wood fern
Verdancy itself beckons a soothing saunter
Amidst gentle air
the ever-so-distant banter of a woodpecker’s
rat-a-tat-tat
a red-hot cardinal’s persistent tree-to-tree
whistle
showcase nature’s cacophony
Rejuvenated by this lifeforce
I linger here in the lush of green
hope to absorb some element of wisdom
in its natural order
follow my own thumbprint of life
