Timberlines II

Words by Richard Denner

Eastern Washington Reforestation crew
photo by William Morris

STUBBORN LUMBER

Can there be emptiness without awareness?
Ask George.

Imagine a tree falling and no one hearing it.
Imagine, also, its twisted limbs.

The trees arrange themselves-I don't
have anything to do with this.

Sun and moon, day and night,
the trees follow me.
Imagine them growing.
Imagine no one hearing them.

If you open the door to knowledge-remember,
the peanut butter is on the shelf in the door.

...

LAND OF MANY ABUSES

Should Anarchists be given
U.S. Forest Service contracts?
Only if they can sign their names.
Davy signs Galloping Antelope,
Galactic Emperor, Son of Earthworm.

This contract is 67 acres,
a diamond shape on Big Hill.
We awake at 6, bag up at 7, climb
a mountain of burns and bramble.
Green fire-the image leaps out

as the ashes choke us. Who are
these people to whom we trust
our forests? Who is this crew
who sings, "When my work is over,
I'm going to fly away home?"

x

IT'S A MESS

by the creek where I squat
with nosebleed after smacking
my face in the slash

a crisscross of firehardened
barbed sticks, o mama
the dead forest
and the hills
lush in bitterbrush and ceinosis
sea of noses

o mama
is there hope for the trees?

slashier slash
rockier rock-this little unit
has snow on it and's unusable

out of shoot #1
it's Flaming Hoedag
ridden by J Root

o mama
there is hope for the trees
Orpheus instructs the treeplanters
Watch those scalps
keep an eye on spacing
Don't plant too deep
No J roots
I only want to see asses and elbows

we plant ahead of progress rates
into full pay with laurels

we're paid to plant a tree,
and we'll come back
and back again until it grows

the trees-
out of their depth
with this logic,
driven around in vans,
debated about like dots on a map

Go Fir It Reforestation
in the Land of Many Abuses

we're trying to plant in a week
what destroyed in a day
took 1000 years to grow
x

GREEN FIRE

Green fire is the future.
The spike brambles and the mountain
of burns recede, and an oasis of trees
arises from the ashes.

There's no way into the future
but flight-take off
from the tallest Doug Fir
and spread your tail feathers.

Take a turn and look
at the next century-hope
for the next century-turn again
-can this be easily managed?

...

Eastern Washington Reforestation crew - the "crummy" L.A.

BELIEVE ME, LAURA

While listening to children
singing and swinging in a tree, I think
a good treeplanter
can be comfortable even in Hell.

x

HEART'S TIMBER

I see you in profile in this moonlit rock
at the edge of the cut bank near Ardenvoir.
Lady of My Thoughts, honor and praise,
your image powers my work.

A dead forest is a strange place
to be in evening dress-beautiful
intensities-the field vibrating
with the spirits of young trees.

Two year old Ponderosa pine,
2-0's, there're trying, but it's hard.
Underground, the work gets done,
a whispered AUM to go on.

x

WHERE ON THE PAPER CHAIN ARE YOU?

Flaky footing on the high unit
wind cold, cold snow at 4000 feet a bitch
but it packs well around the pine plugs
above Indian Creek in the rocky outcroppings
not a forest, a farm, slash and burn, a war

We're riding in a crummy
an orange International van beat to shit
the bad karma tipi that takes us to work
we've named it L.A.
so we can drive to work in L.A.

I want my forest cut into chips
so my grandchildren can have toilet paper

On the other hand, we need air
and the mountains need cover
and the animals need homes
no matter if they're in rows

Breathe into the pain
or step out of the way

...

ON TO THE NEXT UNIT

Tree planting on Mount Baker
this contract is 180 acres
long with diamond shapes
known as Dragon Tail

I fly high, I fly low
at Concrete Sauk Valley Road
one mile to orange bridge
turn left follow river
to Finney Cumberland Road
turn right single lane with turnouts
6 miles tall tree on left
with winding road sign
8 miles bridge with guard rails
9 miles small clearcut with twisted culverts
10 miles waterfall on right
mile 11 turn right up hill at white stop sign

When I arrive, I'm no longer lost
what I've lost I find everywhere

...

PLANTING THE BLAST

On the moonscape
of Mount Saint Helens
I've learned a new technique
called the pumice pump

Place the tree roots on the ash
place the hoe on the roots
and push the roots straight down

Speed planting the last ash unit
trying to get the trees in straight
overplanting every plot
and praying the roots
find something to live on

Some trees I named for Bongnan
some for Lulu
some for the protectors
of this silicon mountain

Putting the right tree in the right hole
while picking rocks out of my nose
made of snot and volcanic ash

The inspector turns up
"stop, stop, don't throw
those rocks
down the slope, you're
hurting the trees"
fantasy of tying the inspector
to the hood of the van
as a trophy

Lost in a pause
where should I be on the unit?
I should be on the line
always a mystery

Outside the orbit of stars
lost and found inside
myself
creation arises and dis-
solves
in
a magical display

On to the next unit

Too Good To Be True crew

Click here for Timberlines I

info@physikgarden.com