Inner Woman
Evergreen An Ode to my Father

To replace them all

In one place

My father sought

His evergreen

Forest

The Christmas tree

Lived in a pot

Still it stands

Silent soldier

Siska Spruce

Nineteen seventy

The Balsam Fir

Outside our door

Between dwellings

Wild strawberries

At its feet

My father found

In a ditch

Now it towers

His memory sings

The line of trees

Behind our house

Spruce of every color

White, Blue, Black

Engelman

He loved them all

They stand so tall

From tiny sprigs

He found one fall

The golden Larch

The last addition

Buds in spring

Spider limbs each winter

The needled tree

Not evergreen

And then the pines

Lodgepole and Jack

And the trio

Of Douglas fir

Which by name

Denies its roots

Which made him laugh

Until his death

He loved them all

Pale green coats

In the spring

Shedding snow

Blizzard shield

In forests grand

His ghost still stands

Evergreen