Joseph Salvatore Aversano
A FORESTER'S GUIDE TO AEGEAN TREES
1)
drop
of rain
ripple
rings
of the
tree
2)
crow's nest
up in the
crown of a
palm lined w/
rain or
shine till
a crow
3)
pine needled
the light holed
dark
4)
we make prints of the underbrush *
(of its twigs, needles, exoskeletons)
& end up w/ maps of our feet
5)
by way
of boughs
the old
plane tree
out &
about
6)
Along the same coast, set just above the sea, is Ortygia, a luxuriant grove with a great variety of trees, but mostly the cypress. And flowing through it is the River Cenchrus, where Leto is said to have bathed after her ordeal . . . And close by [is] the olive tree where the goddess is said to have first laid down to rest . . . .
— —Strabo 14.1.20
7)
thousand
year old
olive's
spring
shade
8)
Sabine's Pears**
that the penned outlines
hold so much of nothing in
it can only bulge as something
very much alive & w/ all
of the character of curves
dimpled in shadow & light
out of the nothing one
can swear was
never there
Notes:4) * after an image by Carolie Parker; 8) ** after a sketch by Sabine Miller
Joseph Salvatore Aversano walks about in the forests and orchards along the Turkish Aegean coast. His newer poems have been published in E-ratio, is/let, Modern Haiku, and otata. A generous sampling of his micro-poetry was recently published in A New Resonance 11 (Red Moon Press, 2019).
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A FORESTER'S GUIDE TO AEGEAN TREES
1)
drop
of rain
ripple
rings
of the
tree
2)
crow's nest
up in the
crown of a
palm lined w/
rain or
shine till
a crow
3)
pine needled
the light holed
dark
4)
we make prints of the underbrush *
(of its twigs, needles, exoskeletons)
& end up w/ maps of our feet
5)
by way
of boughs
the old
plane tree
out &
about
6)
Along the same coast, set just above the sea, is Ortygia, a luxuriant grove with a great variety of trees, but mostly the cypress. And flowing through it is the River Cenchrus, where Leto is said to have bathed after her ordeal . . . And close by [is] the olive tree where the goddess is said to have first laid down to rest . . . .
— —Strabo 14.1.20
7)
thousand
year old
olive's
spring
shade
8)
Sabine's Pears**
that the penned outlines
hold so much of nothing in
it can only bulge as something
very much alive & w/ all
of the character of curves
dimpled in shadow & light
out of the nothing one
can swear was
never there
Notes:4) * after an image by Carolie Parker; 8) ** after a sketch by Sabine Miller
Joseph Salvatore Aversano walks about in the forests and orchards along the Turkish Aegean coast. His newer poems have been published in E-ratio, is/let, Modern Haiku, and otata. A generous sampling of his micro-poetry was recently published in A New Resonance 11 (Red Moon Press, 2019).