Monday, May 9, 2011

Craven Aura's I Am A Tree

"I, subsumed in the air
with dragonflies and dander,
breathe in non-ego, broach
a feeler on the wind's tail."

These are the opening lines from "I Am A Tree", Craven Aura's book-length poem of the same name. The reader's imagination is fondled by way of a cheap shopper on the same bruised spot of an otherwise healthy apple. Whither wind? And wherefore lies the verdant toil? The tree isn't named, but as generic trees go, it does have a personality of sorts if one can call the consistency of abstract pining a hook to hang a gust on. I Am A Tree won the Arbuscle Memorial Award for Poetry last year, and with it, a coupon (in lieu of cheque) for a reduced-rate consultation with an arborist in how to release your tree from its mall boulevard coffin.

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