Welcome to Poetry Moment. I’m Marjorie Maddox
Oh, the places trees — and poems — take us! According to naturalist John Muir, "Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world." If you''ve ever shared space with a shady woodland garden and a garden gnome, you may be familiar with the striped maple.
In today's poem of the same name, Judith Vollmer leads us into a realm of elves and changelings.
Judith Vollmer is the author of "The Sound Boat: New and Selected Poems," which was awarded the 2022 University of Wisconsin Press Four Lakes Prize. Other collections have been awarded the Brittingham, the Cleveland State, and the Center for Book Arts prizes. Vollmer is the recipient of fellowships and residencies from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Yaddo, the American Academy in Rome, and others. She is Professor Emerita of the University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg, and recipient of the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award of the University of Pittsburgh. She lives in Pittsburgh’s Nine Mile Run watershed.
Do you know the Latin name of a shrub or tree? Maybe not, but a short descriptive name sticks in the brain. Not surprisingly, the most noticeable features of a young striped maple are its long white or pale green vertical lines on bark or stems. The striped maple is small, slow-growing, and loves shade. Some people call it whistlewood, moosewood, moose maple, or goosefoot maple. A botanist or a gardener could add a lot more specific information. However, it took today's poet to ask the questions: How did the lines get there? Where do they lead? To hear her theory, travel with her to imaginative worlds.
Here’s "The Striped Maple" by Judith Vollmer.
The Striped Maple
Unbraided,
parallel, your green-gray
stripes thick as elven pens
climb, writing on rain and wind.
Scored on wood-rope
your music calls
to all things change-ling,
sheltered in bark-
leather, thick,
the better to climb—
maybe
reaching heavenward
is a furled curtain, threaded
and sturdy, but who knows how to read
between the lines, into such heart?
"The Striped Maple" is from Judith Vollmer's newest book "The Pavese Stone" (Alice James Books).
Listen for Poetry Moment with Marjorie Maddox, Mondays during Morning Edition and All Things Considered on WPSU. You'll find more episodes at https://radio.wpsu.org/show/poetry-moment
Our theme music is by Eric Ian Farmer.
