Imagine a cloud:
Seams ripping, water spilling;
Imagine the sky:
Cold tears falling, eyes filling;
Imagine a god:
Wrapped tight in slivers of soul;
Imagine your world:
Fast-spinning out of control.
Imagine a tree:
A being you called your mother;
Imagine an arm:
A branch you called your brother;
Imagine a chant:
A loud, orchestral uproar;
Imagine the wind
and her wild dance of gore.
“Defy the Storm-King!”
We rasped and shouted and cried;
“Defy the Storm-King!”
Some trees sang out as they died.
Ms. Colt wrung her hands;
She sat, head bowed, in the dark;
She let a tear fall;
Beneath the sky, trees lay stark.
Poor Theodora!
Her beloved trees near gone.
“Poor Theodora!”
Cried the storm-king’s mocking song.
We know how it feels
to be pulled up by the roots;
We know how it feels
to not be able to choose;
We have survived much;
We’ve been beaten by the sky;
Our story lives on:
These strong seeds refuse to die.
Linden is our name:
We have grown back oh so tall.
Linden is our name:
We stand for healing for all.
It’s not been easy;
(It’s often laborious);
But we, Lindens, are quite firm:
No storm-king’s victorious.
Author’s note: This poem was written during my Writer’s Residency at Linden Place, a historic mansion and museum in Bristol, RI in April 2023. It was part of an unpublished collection of poems I wrote about the complicated history of the house told through the perspective of the linden trees that line the property. Theodora Colt, referenced in this poem, is the woman responsible for renaming the house Linden Place (formerly DeWolf Mansion) and planting the linden trees in an attempt to begin a new chapter in spite of the slavery that defined the house and surrounding area of Bristol. Theodora was quite attached to the linden trees and a poet in her own right. This poem references a poem she wrote about a great storm that knocked many of the linden trees down. I like to think of my poem as a symbol of resilience and hope amidst the literal and physical storms that threaten our planet. The “nature of our times” may be frightening, but like the linden trees, we stand tall, honoring the past and staunchly looking towards the future.
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Cassandra Bousquet, from Brisbane, CA, is the recent recipient of the Poetry Lighthouse Prize and received an Honorable Mention from the Ruth Weiss Foundation in their 2024 poetry contest. Her poem, “Dear Human at the Edge of Time” appears in the 2023 anthology of the same title, edited by Luisa A. Igloria, Aileen Cassinetto, and Jeremy S. Hoffman. In April 2023, she was a Writer-In-Residence at Linden Place, an historic mansion and museum in Bristol, RI.
