What the tree sees

We crowd each other,

younger jostling older

as we politely fight

for air and sun and

rain and decomposition

of most things that

provide food. Saplings

chatter and chirrup 

with far more bravado

than courage, more fear 

than inherent bravery

underlying the claim,

the bluff, the assertion

of opinion as fact.

Saplings know all

as they slyly eye

each other for prime

position in the sun.

They see me but

pretend I’m not there,

a reminder of what

they become, assuming,

of course, they first

survive.

I see all this, remembering

myself as know-it-all sapling,

knowing that I know less now

than when I was young. Now 

what I see is only

my shadow.

Tweetspeak Poetry is hosting a poetry prompt this weekfor Poetic Earth Month. It’s a simple prompt, based on a dreamy, haunting photograph of trees by Kelly Sauer and asking what the tree sees. Kelly is also the photographer for the cover photo of my second novel, A Light Shining. 

The 17th Day of Community: Kelly Sauer

This is how Kelly Sauer introduces herself on her blog, This Restless Heart:

“This is me, photographer, writer, wife, mama to two; struggling to be; every day desperate in need of Jesus; writing from here.

“I dream big, fall hard, live on grace, and change diapers.”

Several months ago, I came across Kelly’s writing the usual way you do on the web. You’re following someone, someone leaves a comment; you click on the someone’s link, and then find yourself in an entirely new world. That’s what happened to me when I clicked on the link to her blog.

She writes about her family – her husband Peter, young daughter Piper and new baby son Bredon. (She posted a five-year slide show on their life together this week.) She writes about her faith. She writes about her struggles.

What struck me about Kelly were the openness and the honesty of her writing. It is all right there in front of you. Some days I read her posts and afterward, I just sit, staring the computer screen, marveling at the beauty of the words and how she opens her heart.

And then there’s her photography.

She’s a professional photographer. She does wedding photos like you’ve never seen wedding photos, capturing joy and reality and romance. She photographs her children and Pete, and every photograph says “love” (it’s amazing how she does that). And then there are photographs like Good Gifts, photographs that blow your socks off.

So visit her blog. Follow her on Twitter. See where she and Peter and their family are going on their journey. You’ll find yourself signing up for the trip, too.


(In December, a number of us participating in the “Twelve Days of Community” - see the button at the top right - sponsored by The High Calling Blogs. The purpose was to highlight the blog or web site of someone other than ourselves during the season of Advent and Christmas. I liked the idea so much that I’m going to continue to do that -- highlight a blog or web site of a person whose thoughts and writing have had an impact on me and others.)