Poetry
Summer 2020
Photo by Sue Hylen
Ode to Madrona
Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, WA 2019
by Nancy Taylor
You stand alone with eight straight trunks
each in the cross-hairs of the sun,
as though those parts signed a non-compete clause.
You rise proud, king of the knoll,
unlike your kinfolk with their curved,
achy spines. No chiropractor bills for you.
You are memorable, Fort Warden’s finest.
Women envy your poreless bark
that peels to restore.
Your leaves do not fleet but color yellower this year.
So conserve your fluids, flower less,
dig roots deeper than my neighbor’s well.
Nancy Taylor is a retired nurse practitioner who has dabbled in poetry for the past decade. Her interests are gardening, walking through forests and petting her two fluffy, mostly white Havanese dogs. She loves dogs so much she wrote a poetry book, Can We Keep Him, to benefit Kitsap Animal Rescue & Education (KARE).
Table of Contents, Issue #8, Summer 2020
Bigleaf Maple
Images by John F. Williams except where noted, Poem by Barbie Brooking, Summer 2020Images by John F. Williams except where noted, Poem by Barbie Brooking, Summer 2020That's a pretty big leaf!Click on a small photo above to expand the gallery that shows that these big...
Hardwood & Winter Leaves
by Kristopher Clark, Summer 2020Photo by Kris ClarkPhoto by Kris Clarkby Kristopher Clark, Summer 2020Walking through a Pacific Northwest forest is unlike any other walk in the nation. Trees of all kinds drape their enormous arms, ferns blanket the ground, and moss...
Red Alder
by Thomas & Sara Noland Summer 2020 Photos by Thomas Noland except as notedSpring sunlight illuminates the new leaves of a red alder. The leaves have deep veins and scalloped edges.Spring sunlight illuminates the new leaves of a red alder. The leaves have deep...
Factories Underfoot
by Adelia Ritchie, Summer 2020Photo by John F. WilliamsPhoto by John F. Williamsby Adelia Ritchie, Summer 2020 What do we mean when we say that some plants are “nitrogen fixers”? No, it doesn’t mean that they are repairing nitrogen! Let’s take a moment to get a grip...
In the Company of Alders
by Phoebe Goit Summer 2020Photo by John F. WilliamsPhoto by John F. Williamsby Phoebe Goit, Summer 2020[Some of the more technical terms in this article are indicated by orange text. If you hover your cursor over the [su_tooltip position="north" size="1"...
The Pacific Madrone
— WHERE AND WHY by Gerald Young, Summer 2020 Photos by Gerald Young except as notedThe Pacific madrone is commonly seen on bluffs. Photo by John F. Williams The Pacific madrone is commonly seen on bluffs. Photo by John F. Williams — WHERE AND WHY by Gerald Young,...
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