Walnut Candle Holder

Saint Paul, 24 December 2004

By birthright we clobber a subterranean stump

A dumbfounded thud bewildering the here we know

Roundhouse hacks a steel splitting maul at minus five

Exploding wood into cleaves of chocolate bear claws

That the kernel of fleshy fruit resembles our brain

Is not unexpected but design-less and unintentional

The rangy planks of walnut give us tables to convene

Aromatic leaves shade each generation’s picnic

Flowers staminate and pistillate in separate catkins

Bark is as deeply furrowed as mortals reconciling infinity

Splinters and wormholes convey disintegrated matter

But in season’s time command green shoots into light