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Poem by Cleveland Wall

11/28/2021

3 Comments

 
Appling

I grabbed the dictionary and flipped more pages and all kinds of things seemed to be verbs: “to be a hill,”  “to be red,” “to be a long, sandy stretch of beach” . . .
Robin Wall Kimmerer, on learning Potawatomi
                    Braiding Sweetgrass
Who is being an apple tree? My friend
over there with the shady leaves.
My sister with white blossoms in her hair
apples temptation, sweet-fleshed and comely.
Apple sister roots herself, entwines
with honey pear cousin, dips into mycelium 
buzzing news of the forest.

Who is being a forest? Who shades the moss?
Who wears the lichen mantle stands sentry
at the mouth of the river. Who is the river?
Did anyone ask to become the summer
evening air sedulous with dew?

Who dews in clear globes remembering
cloudburst she will do, has done,
will do? Who am I breathing tree breath 
if not tree kin? If not apple and worm,
bacterium and spore?

When I was rhizoming, the mineral-rising 
surged through, while you were beaning 
nitrogen into the soil, which earths
tirelessly—for so long, for so long--
but what glad work it is!
You can view the video of the poem reading here: 
cwall_-_appling.mp4
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Cleveland Wall is a poet, mail artist, and librarian in Bethlehem, PA. She performs with poetry improv troupe No River Twice and with musical combo The Starry Eyes. She is the author of Let X=X (Kelsay Books, 2019) and many small, handmade chapbooks.

3 Comments

    About

    The poems that follow are powerful evidence that Poetry Speaks Back to Hunger!

    They were submitted to the 2021 World Food Day Special Call for Poems from North American Poets.  Several of these poems will be showcased in the coming weeks by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Capital Area Food Bank.  

    Thanks to poets Josephine LoRe (Alberta, Canada), Brian Donnell James (Virginia, USA) and Martiza Rivera (Maryland, USA) for helping to assess the poems.  Thanks also to Rebecca Roach for donating nearly 1200 tree seedlings on behalf of the poets who submitted work.  And, a big thanks to poet Aaron R who helped to administer the Special Call. ​

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  • Home
  • Art Auction to Alleviate Hunger
  • Hunger Poetry
    • Hunger Poems
    • World Food Day Poetry Competition >
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
    • Maryland Poets
    • International Poets
  • About
    • About the Initiative
    • Initiative Founder
    • Advisory Board
  • News & Blog
  • Young!
    • Poems by Young Poets
    • Videos
    • Materials for Teachers
  • Library
    • Extent of Hunger >
      • Global Hunger: Progress & Challenges
      • Hunger in the US
    • Historic Accounts of Hunger >
      • Africa
      • The Americas
      • Asia
      • Europe and Russia
    • Historical Poems
    • Interviews
    • Recent highlights
  • Contact/Submit/Take Action
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Call to Action
    • Resources & Donations >
      • Global resources
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