June Art and Poetry

 

POETRY

I hope you will enjoy a few poems about trees for this month. These are selections from The Reluctant Poet, available at Lulu and most fine ebook retailers.

 

 These Little Trees

These little trees

Content to live in pots

Resilient and nearly waterless

Grow inch by inch

Bending to the sun

In imperceptible ways

Drawing a line I do not recognize

Until later I see

The trunk’s crooked path

Traced against the sky

Describing my inattentions.

 

A Particular Sadness 

A new gap in the earth

The smell of wet soil, pungent and heavy.

A titan of a tree gave in to the wind

Gave in to the wind

And fell.

 

We were knee deep

In severed pine, shoulder deep

In lateral, aching branches

Losing purpose

And life.

 

Soil, unaccustomed to light

Breathed out its breath, gasping for darkness

Evaporating its clammy heart,

Its very heart,

Into air.

 

Nine birds—refugees now—

Perched in sparse, leafless, neighbor trees

Like Darfurian refugees spread out on the sand,

Spread out on the sand.

They lost their homes.

They lost their homes!

 

A new space was born.

An empty space was birthed by titan’s absence.

A new space was violently made

At the cost of that tree.

Oh, that beautiful tree!

 

And I—I gained a particular sadness.

 

Friend Tree

If I hug you, tree,

                When the storm rolls in

Will the lightning strike

                Me or thee?

 

If the brunt of the wind

                Pushes back the bark

Will you cherish me

                As your friend?

 

If the soaking rain

                Pools at feet and trunk

Will we shiver and dance

                Together again?

 

If the storm-ending comes

                And I then want to leave

Will you stay where you are

                As my friend?

 

 

My two volumes of poetry are still available at Poor Richard's, a "Colorado Springs favorite since 1975, where the pizza is warm, the books are wise, and the toy store occasionally giggles". Find my collections The Reluctant Poet and A Prayer from the Driven: Poems by a Christian in the Local Poets section.

ART

As mentioned last month, June is set aside to complete some new work and get ready to submit those to upcoming shows. It's great to be at it again. This month I tackled clouds for the first time and feel great about the progress I am making. I feel more confident in representing these ever-changing masterpieces of God in His sky. But I know that I have much more to learn on this front. Each work I do teaches me something new about color, composition, shading, shadows, figures and more. 

 

Don't Miss the MAC!
I have two different pieces at the Manitou Art Center 1st Amendment Show in the Intemann Gallery  June-July. I so appreciate this great art center and making space for anyone to show their work. 

Click on my Art Banner at the top to see my online gallery of artwork. 

 
Thanks for supporting the arts!

 

© M.R.Hyde 2026