Editor’s Note: “Poems to Listen By” is an audio series where, over time, we will explore some of the themes in the Poet Laura checklist, as well as Tweetspeak’s “Year of Wisdom” theme throughout 2020.
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Poems to Listen By: Sharing the Canopy: 8 Ways Trees Embody Our Stories—Poetics. Presented by Laurie Klein
From leafy crown to taproot, from bark to heartwood, from understory to back story (and beyond!), trees—and tree poems—may simultaneously shelter us and make history.
From poet Tracy K. Smith, this is . . .
[Eternity poem]
Oh, and the trees! Where would be without them?
On behalf of us all, thanks for listening!
Browse More Poems to Listen By with Laurie Klein
Photo by sagesolar, Creative Commons license via Flickr. Poems used with permission. Audio and script by Laurie Klein with thanks to Pat Stien for direction and Bill Klein for engineering and music from his solo album, “Lauda.”
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— Smith, Tracy K., “Eternity,” in Wade in the Water (Minneapolis, MN: Graywolf Press, 2019), p 59.
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- Poems to Listen By: Yondering—7: When You Came Back - April 16, 2025
- Poems to Listen By: Yondering—6: Restricted Travel - March 26, 2025
- Poems to Listen By: Yondering—5: Upon Arrival - March 12, 2025
Marjorie says
Lovely poem and lovely reading!
Laurie Klein says
Marjorie, thank you! So glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Katie says
Laurie,
I enjoyed every bit of this post from the opening image of sunlight through trees, to the poem, Eternity, to the lilting sound of your voice and the lovely closing music:)
Many thanks for the joy you bring to our days in these readings.
Gratefully,
Katie
Laurie Klein says
Katie,
Thank you for listening so closely and letting the images and sounds carry you along. And thank you for letting me know. Your words are a gift today, and I am grateful. 🙂
lynn__ says
Yes, a lovely reading, Laurie! “A ladder asleep against a house” and the list of trees made me smile. I remember the apple tree of my childhood…and mountains.
Laurie Klein says
Lynn, that ladder image delighted me, too. Such a vivid scene as well as poet, Tracy K. Smith. I hope the apple tree of your youth was inviting to climb as well as harvest. 🙂
Megan Willome says
I’ve so enjoyed this series, Laurie. And I’m glad you included a poem by Tracy K. Smith here at the end.
Early March
We all returning
even the trees
back from vacation
ready to settle in for spring
Their leaves relay stories
histories behind bark
woody anecdotes we
can only hear if
we lie beneath their canopy
listen for the jokes
Laurie Klein says
Meghan, thank you. 🙂
“We are all returning.” I find myself taking a deep breath here, then a pause, at this far-reaching thought.
What a delicious invitation to “lie beneath [the] canopy” listening for “woody anecdotes” and, especially, and so unexpectedly, “the jokes.”
I want to head outside right now and eavesdrop . . .