Knowing Leaves

by Katherine L. Gordon

Leaves used to make patterns

on my valley windows,

embrace exchanged

energy reciprocal,

trees nodded tresses to me

as I walked by

touching familiar branches.

Now leaving blinded windows

I wend through formal gardens

where bushes are bound in tight

controlled foliage,

shapes curtailed.

I slip a hand beneath their corsets

into softer struggling skin

and feel a wild heart

waiting for release

to stretch unfettered

into jubilant sun-coaxed excess.

I empathise.

* * * * *

"Knowing Leaves" is from Katherine L. Gordon's new poetry collection Caution: Deep Water. http://www.hmspress.ca/deepwater.html. The collection deals with the shock of leaving one’s home for the cultural phenomenon of retirement homes, expensive ghettoes for the vulnerable elderly.

Katherine L. Gordon is a rural Ontario poet, publisher, judge, editor and reviewer, working to promote the voices of women poets around the world, as they are now flowering into acclaim.  She has many books, chapbooks, anthologies and collaborations with fine contemporaries whose work inspires her.  Her poems have been translated and awarded internationally. Latest books: Piping at the End of Days, Valley Press, and Caution: Deep Water which was released by HMS Press, London, Ontario in November 2018.