The Romance of Bark - Poem

African American Review, Winter, 2000 by JoAnne McFarland

During the second week of May

I stroke a tree in The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

It is years since I've allowed myself this intimacy.

Why floats away casual and unanswered.

There are within the texture of some bark

tears. They will flow and up will rise

the memory of a free girl, what she

let her body do in a tree without

question. There is a script within bark that will

unlock the roots of a longing so deep

the will spasms and collapses.

Reclaiming wholeness feels like

breaking through the earth for the

first time.

Artist and writer JoAnne McFarland lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her poetry collection Stills is available from Acorn Whistle Press. "The Romance of Bark" is part of her latest collection, A Wing Without a Bird.