Sam Barbee
Mother Nature Protests
Mr. Wind whooshes forest treetops.
Only biggest leaves have courage to speak:
…………..Stop, stop, you might blow us away!
Stoutest branches bend with creak and moan.
Brown bark rips away from tallest trunks:
…………..Mr. Wind, why are you so angry?
The windstorm stops, and boughs calm.
Every treetop is still. Mr. Wind speaks:
…………..Do not fear – my bluster is to warn you.
…………..Men with axes and saws are coming this way
…………..seeking timber to build boxes and tables.
Little leaves tremble and begin to cry. Mother Nature
is not happy either. She makes it rain, and scolds
the big men in brown coats and hardhats:
…………..Leave my children alone!
They become afraid and scurry away in trucks.
All trees clap, and sing happy tree songs.
Mother Nature assures every bough:
…………..I will keep you safe.
Old leaves and little leaves dance on every limb,
rejoicing all are now safe in the forest.
_______________
Sam Barbee has a new collection, Apertures of Voluptuous Force (2022, Redhawk Publishing). He has three previous poetry collections, including That Rain We Needed (2016, Press 53), which was a nominee for the Roanoke-Chowan Award as one of North Carolina’s best poetry collections of 2016; and is a two-time Pushcart nominee.
His poems have appeared recently in Poetry South, Salvation South, and Cave Wall, among others; plus online journals Dead Mule School of Literature, American Diversity Report, Grand Little Things, and Medusa’s Kitchen.
Author’s Backstory: The NC Poetry Society has an annual contest with eleven different categories. One is to submit a poem that would appeal to children. I wanted to write a poem that was fable with a theme concerning social comment (environment), this one being greedy men destroying the forest.
Editor’s Comments and Image Credit: This ends the collection on a happier note, though it’s still a serious topic. The best of nine complementing images was found with the input to Wexel: “wind chases lumberjacks with their axes away, they are very sad, but the leaves dance and rejoice.”