i
The Buddha found enlightenment under the Bodhi tree
Muslims read the Quran best under the Acacia tree
Jews believe the Kabbalah tree symbolizes the original tree of life
Hindus believe an old Mulberry tree is the wish granting tree
Japanese Shintoists believe the Ginkgo is sacred
Zimbabwe’s Shona tribe believe God planted the Baobab first of all plants
Christians believe Jesus was crucified on a dead one and how appropriate
for a religion that emphasizes sin, repentance and death-
“O mother of leaves and sweetness/who are these pietas?”

ii
Is it their quality of paradox, like the tamarack, a deciduous tree
in the family of evergreens with their little brown brittle cones
that look like sweetheart roses.

Is it their ephemeral quality. “trees are green clouds that sail
in light and wind or sink in the drowning sound of shaken leaves”
Or like the maple, rooted, yet “tasting the winds,” heavy with
mineral water but “full of wings.” “They seed so effortlessly.”

Is it their associations, their microbial symbionts that help them
photosynthesis, defend themselves and communicate with others.

Is it that we plant them, we lumber them, we hang our swings
from them, we carve our initials on their trunks, we paint them
we write poetry about them, we harvest their fruit and flowers
we picnic beneath them, we live in their bodies, in their maternal
arms we bury our dead.