Kneeling on the riverbank beside the silver maple,
gloved hands hold a saw to cut the English ivy,
on this end-of-winter morning,
for the canopy of this floodplain tree to reach freely
in the sun, for its seeds to fly and scatter,
land and grow along the Susquehanna,
to hold with exposed roots, wild and wrangling,
waters within the riverbank, near centuries-old houses,
in centuries-old town.
A dozen others do the same, cut thick ropes of vine
from Sycamore, Swamp Oak, Black Willow,
their voices a hum of human community.
I kneel on the riverbank and lean against this maple.
It holds my spine in place, keeps me from tumbling
down several feet onto the mudflat below
where exposed roots of river trees hold the earth in place,
cradle the lapping waters, while the drop nearly pulls me
onto the smooth, mud sand silvering in morning gleam
exposing tracks of deer and oyster shells white
against tawny sand. I stop the motion of the saw
to follow the play of Chesapeake gulls
as the blood rush settles inside of me,
and breath becomes the river breeze
and knees settle in soil,
—
Judith Ann Kennedy lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She has two books of poetry, To See in the Night and Salted Wakings. Her poem, “Longfellow Pine,” will appear in the forthcoming poetry anthology, Keystone Poetry: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania, by Penn State University Press in May of 2025.
