Just a Poem

Sometimes it is good to look back on a time in your life when you were satisfied completely with your world and what you were doing. There have been many of those times for me but one of my favorite times and places was during the years I lived in the beautiful San Bernardino Mountains. Over 7,000 feet up in the sky with lovely four seasons, I was as close to heaven on earth as I figured I would ever be.

During this time we built a new home on an acre of land in the trees with no close neighbors but within walking distance of one of the largest ski runs. In order to build our home there, we had to cut some of the trees--I insisted that we cut as few as possible. When the men had completed the job, they came to me and pointed out a sapling bend in almost an upside-down U-shape. They couldn't understand why I wanted to keep that weird looking tree. Later I wrote a poem that satisfied the reason why.

"Tree Circus"

Upon seeing the tree
bent so low,
Almost in half
to the ground,
He asked if I
didn't want
it pulled out,
chopped up,
tossed away.
How could I let
someone destroy
the woodpecker's center ring,
the squirrel's trampoline,
the chipmunk's high wire.

Barbara Deming (c)2001

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I will be sharing some of my own answers to assignments I give my students from time to time. I never know what to expect but have had some pleasant surprises from my prompts--even from myself.