appealing

The Maynard
Spring 2018

Wendy Wisner

Trust the Trees

Erin walks through the woods, cramping and bleeding,
the baby unpeeling inside her.

Levana asks, Would you rather go home and rest?
Erin says, I’d rather feel this way in a forest than on my couch.

I’m home on the couch, the baby inside me
almost done, his legs crooked branches.

Who chooses the ones who live,
the ones who die? This morning on my walk,

a cool breeze, the dogwood fruits
ripe and fallen, splattered across the lawn,

the oak leaves already turning yellow and brown.
Eleven years ago today it was humid and sticky.

My husband walked over the bridge
while I sat on our stoop in Brooklyn,

the smoke from the buildings,
from the bodies, already wafting across the water.

Erin’s message to my baby is Trust the trees.
Interpret it however you want, she says.

I didn’t trust my husband would make it home
even as I saw his ashen body walking toward me.