Kathryn deLancellotti
Root
Moonlight in the kitchen is a sign of God
-Anne Carson
A redwood falling is a sign of God,
is a boy who discovers
his father’s homeless,
wants to feed every
hungry mouth
on every hungry corner.
A tree feeding its sapling
to reduce root competition
for the next generation
is a sign of God.
When a redwood
fell across Cold Springs Ct.
and blocked the road
to Planned Parenthood,
a woman listened—
she was stuck in a storm
and it took days to slice
the trunk away.
Two days too late
is a sign.
Is a dying tree
sending wisdom to its kin,
sending carbon
signals for defense.
The forest,
not a tangled mess
of competition—
but a mother reaching
for a star, rooting
into darkness
is a sign of God,
is wet soil,
that final place—
God’s mouth
just waiting to swallow.
Kathryn deLancellotti’s chapbook Impossible Thirst was published with Moon Tide Press in June 2020. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and a former recipient of the George Hitchcock Memorial Poetry Prize. Her poems and other works have appeared in The American Journal of Poetry, Quarterly West, Cultural Weekly, Rust + Moth, and others. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada University and resides in Harmony, California, with her family.
Return to July 2021 Edition
Moonlight in the kitchen is a sign of God
-Anne Carson
A redwood falling is a sign of God,
is a boy who discovers
his father’s homeless,
wants to feed every
hungry mouth
on every hungry corner.
A tree feeding its sapling
to reduce root competition
for the next generation
is a sign of God.
When a redwood
fell across Cold Springs Ct.
and blocked the road
to Planned Parenthood,
a woman listened—
she was stuck in a storm
and it took days to slice
the trunk away.
Two days too late
is a sign.
Is a dying tree
sending wisdom to its kin,
sending carbon
signals for defense.
The forest,
not a tangled mess
of competition—
but a mother reaching
for a star, rooting
into darkness
is a sign of God,
is wet soil,
that final place—
God’s mouth
just waiting to swallow.
Kathryn deLancellotti’s chapbook Impossible Thirst was published with Moon Tide Press in June 2020. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and a former recipient of the George Hitchcock Memorial Poetry Prize. Her poems and other works have appeared in The American Journal of Poetry, Quarterly West, Cultural Weekly, Rust + Moth, and others. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Sierra Nevada University and resides in Harmony, California, with her family.
Return to July 2021 Edition