The Poet Tree Positivity Project

Woke up this morning, I was feeling quite weird, had flies in my beard, my tooth paste was smeared- well not really. They're actually lyrics from an old song 'Mr Spaceman,' by The Byrds that had formed an earworm in my head as I began writing this... 

I actually woke with an idea for sharing poetry with my neighbours. So I set about creating what I'm calling 'The Poet Tree Project.' I am trying to deal with my current lockdown life by responding positively and creatively. 

I have long held the view that poetry possesses a capacity to be healing and transformative, particularly in stressful times. It frequently performs a gentle dance around our emotions engaging them and soothing the soul. It remains one of poetry's many gifts to both the writer and the reader.

There's an old, gnarled eucalypt tree outside my back gate and I thought it would make a perfect partner in my quest to share some poetry in this time of Covid 19. I can see the tree clearly from my study window. 

In my home state of Victoria, we are currently in the grip of a second wave of the virus and as a result, mask wearing has been made compulsory and severe restrictions are in place regarding movement and activity. People are allowed out for up to an hour of exercise each day. I regularly hear them walking past along the community reserve. 

My plan is to share a poem of positivity each week, so that people strolling by on the reserve, whether individually, with their partners, children, or dogs can be positively impacted (hopefully) by the verse I have left on the tree. Here is my first offering.


Lockdown Life

I sit beside the window

gazing upon

the slow motion

garden transformations.

I ponder the lovesick rejection

of my former relationship

with the world.

Maybe today

an invasion of butterflies.

Maybe the sound of an eyelash

crashing to the floor.

Maybe...

While presently possessing

the social mobility

of a garden gnome.

I am content to mine

the sweet content of my days

far from the madness of crowds.

With morning birdsong

and in the background

Lucinda Williams pleading

for passionate kisses.

Alan j Wright



Fisherman's Beach Community Reserve
Fisherman's Creek, Community Reserve.


Comments

  1. mbhmaine18 August 2020 at 22:25

    My spirit was buoyed by your commitment to responding "positively and creatively" to the current situation. I imagine you'll develop quite a local following and like to imagine that more poems will be joining yours on that tree. Great first poem! Here's hoping for an invasion of butterflies! (I love that unexpected word combination.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alan j Wright19 August 2020 at 10:46

    Hi Molly. Thank you for your generous response and your own optimism. It would be great if others contributed to the tree. I shall persist...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Debbie19 August 2020 at 11:18

    I love your Poet Tree idea and am sure those out walking will enjoy your poems...which I am sure will change frequently. Put up some blank plastic folders with a note encouraging others 'leave' a poem. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alan j Wright19 August 2020 at 11:37

      Thank you Debbie and thank you also for the suggestion. It might bring out some brave poets...

      Delete
  4. Fran Haley19 August 2020 at 20:34

    Why does "the sound of an eyelash crashing to the floor" strike me so deeply? Maybe for me it encapsulates the life-on-pause feeling of these COVID days, being in a place, as C.S. Lewis once wrote about the Wood between the Worlds, where "nothing ever happens." I love the idea of the poem on a living tree. Some years ago at school we had every grade level writing poetry and placing it on tree murals in the hallways - a glorious arbor of "poet-trees."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alan j Wright20 August 2020 at 09:59

      In solitude, my preferred wording to isolation, everything is amplified. I notice the stillness and the silence. I notice sounds around me, so I suspect the eyelash line was prompted by a heightened awareness of such things in this present situation. There's a Fay Weldon quote- 'Nothing happens and nothing happens and then everything happens.' or at least you hope it does.Thanks Fran. I shall endeavour to maintain the notion of poetry shared courtesy of a living host.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous20 August 2020 at 18:57

    Wonderful and caring initiative. I hope your neighbours appreciate the Poet Tree and find nuggets of joy for in their day when reading the poems.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alan j Wright21 August 2020 at 10:26

      Thank you Terje for your generous words. I too hope my efforts deliver nuggets of joy. I shall persist.

      Delete
  6. Elisa21 August 2020 at 00:26

    That is super cool, Alan! Are you planning to leave the poems up as you write new ones? Just curious. I hope you share more of these on your blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alan j Wright21 August 2020 at 10:32

      Thanks Elisa. I intend to replace the poems each week in the expectation that people begin to seek out my humble offerings of hope. I did post a number of these poems on my poetry blog. Here is the link:

      https://alanjwrightpoetrypizzazz.blogspot.com/2020/06/poems-of-presence-project.html

      Delete

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