Message on a Log
Message on a Log
Someone’s left a message here,
a swirling, curling missive, clear
in the flesh of this log.
They’ve stripped away the gnarled bark.
They’ve used a blade to leave their mark
in letters I can’t read.
Like hieroglyphs from ancient lands,
or characters by distant hands.
I wonder what it says.
Perhaps it tells where treasure lies.
Perhaps it warns that someone dies.
Or maybe all it says is:
“I was here.”
They are probably not so good for the tree, but I do love the beautiful squiggles that beetle larvae leave on wood as they eat their way underneath the bark.
Happy Day 2 of National Poetry Month.
© Elizabeth Steinglass, 2014, all rights reserved.
Absolutely lovely. Is there a name for the form you’ve used?
Thanks, Rosi. If there is a name for the form, I don’t know it. It just felt right when I started writing so I stuck with it.
Well, it sure sounded right. Good poets follow their hearts.
I really do love this one, too, Liz. Fabulous. It flows nicely. I can see these in a group at some point! Can’t wait to see what you discover next. BTW did I tell you NCTE is in DC next Nov.? Google to find out. Lots of people you know will be there I bet. Also don’t know yet if I will be speaking, but if I am maybe you will join in! I have a panel proposal this year! Hooray. But….time will tell if it is selected. It is at a “resort” in Maryland. Just outside DC. The weekend before Thanksgiving. Hope you can attend at least some of it.
Thanks, Janet,
I will put it on my calendar right now. I will find a way to be there!
I love this poem, Message on a Log. I love the form and the ending. This can’t be your first draft — is it?
Whatever, it’s really good.
Very imaginative!
I have always loved those marks. Then last week I read an article about the Emerald Ash Borer invasion and learned that those creatures make the same sort of marks. I am going to choose to believe that the markings on YOUR log were made be a benign beetle that arrived post mortem, though, because I like the poem!
Elizabeth, I love the rhyming format you have used and the element of surprise at the end of the poem. I was in “real letters” mode, until your comment about the beetles. One really doesn’t need the picture to conjure up an image. What a pleasant beginning to each day. Thank you.
I love the way the mysterious writing ponderings unfold to the surprise (and satisfying) end line: “I was here”. Brava!
Lovely, Liz!