I whisper to the tree, the tree,
the murmuring Tree
"I might take action"

Is romantic
Snow sun melts into streams increasing in volume
I control with my lips

Around History. Our eyes meet. White ancient
Roar I hear stream-
Side, my invisible dress threatening

A slow death. The rest I want to carry
So I listen
For the tree, and its never quite obsolete magic.


About This Poem
"'Evergreen' raises a lot of questions for me, in me. With an ambivalent nod to Emerson, the poem reflects my uneasy relationship with Romanticism, which often romanticized a white racial ideal. But the poem is also about how the imagination is like magic; it can get you into trouble but also get you out."
-Rob Schlegel

About Rob Schlegel
Rob Schlegel is the author of "January Machine" (Four Way Books, 2014), which won the Grub Street National Book Prize in Poetry. He co-edits the Catenary Press and lives in eastern Washington state.

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The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day[at]poets.org.


(c) 2016 Rob Schlegel. Originally published in Poem-a-Day, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate