The Nature of Our Times

The Olive Tree

  • Philip Metres

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                (

consider the olive: it gnarls as it grows
into itself / a veritable thicket / it throws

                (

up obstacles to the light to reach
the light / a crooked path in the air

                (

while beneath our sight it wrestles the rock
wrests water from whatever trickles

                (

beneath / it doesn’t worry it looks like hell
refuses to straighten for anyone

                (

each spring offers itself meat to be eaten
first brambles / then olives

—

Philip Metres has written twelve books, including Fugitive/Refuge (2024) and Shrapnel Maps (2020). Winner of three Arab American Book Awards, a Guggenheim, two NEA fellowships, and a Pushcart Prize, he is professor of English and director of the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights program at John Carroll University.

  • ©2020 Philip Metres

The Nature of
Our Times

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