Shane Schick

STILL, STANDING

But who might serve as the Herodotus

for these hollows, someone to systematically

investigate the wars between trees and time,

to chronicle cavities rather than kingdoms,

to ignore the rising and falling of empires

in favour of what has excavated itself.

Here stands a history of sanctuary,

epochs of enclosure, long nights

with the stars and wind overhead

in a warm pouch based on bark.

As independent as city-states,

yet exposed to attack on all sides

from insects, bacteria or fungi,

territories temporarily conquered

by whatever they can readily contain.

Chop open the trunk if you will,

but the circles you see can’t encompass

everything that lived, loved or was left here,

whether hidden or stored, be they beetles or bats,

starlings or squirrels, a collection of rocks

or a spare key. Just stare long enough

at the blackness of the gaping hole

and you’ll discover the past

has no problem making a habitat

within the unnoticeable, the ignored.

The only better shelter is memory.

Shane Schick is the founder of a customer experience design publication called 360 Magazine, His poetry has appeared in literary journals across the U.S., Canada, The U.K. and Africa. He lives in Toronto. More: shaneschick.com/poetry. Twitter: @shaneschick