The Tale End of the Monsoon, by Tricia Knoll

The Tale End of the Monsoon
after Reading Han-shan

My toe-push lifts the old oak rockers,
where I want to be, snuggled out of gale winds
that plagued his road to Cold Mountain.
That tree-top mist, wet stones, fish-tail slapping
streams, hidden caves and well-strung vines,
gusts that nabbed the climber’s breath
and flipped the scholar’s pages toward death.

By this fire, my old-woman silent shadow
slips in bedrock dark, back and forth
through a dream of his papers stuffed
beneath the roots of roots to keep them dry.
My window to this swirl of branches writhing
and leaves all brouhaha, what he kept at bay
hunkered beneath a cinnamon tree.

*

Tricia Knoll is an Oregon poet. She writes haiku daily, reads a great deal of poetry written by ancients, and often writes eco- and social justice poetry. Urban Wild (Finishing Line Press), a chapbook, highlights interactions between humans and wildlife in urban habitats. Ocean’s Laughter (Kelsay Books) looks at change over time in a small town on Oregon’s north coast, Manzanita. Broadfork Farm (The Poetry Box) explores the life of farmers and creatures on a small organic farm in Trout Lake, Washington on the slopes of Mt Adams. Her newest collection, released March 2018, How I Learned To Be White (Antrim House), collects years of introspection on how ancestry, childhood, education and more formed her perceptions of white privilege and how she might work to become the person she wants to be in our multi-racial world. Website: triciaknoll.com