in the forest and the front yards
there are so many downed trees
more this year than I’ve ever seen
from the winds and the dry dirt
from the early bloom
and the wet heavy snow
so much is breaking apart
I walk the neighborhood
I walk the woods
and see so much splintered
on the road
trucks are piled high with slash
the chipper’s chewing
drowns out the birdsong
the air smells like gasoline
and mulch and heat
though we work quickly
to cover up the ruin
to haul all evidence of it away
soon the lawns will be clear
of branches and trunks
the roofs repaired
the choppers silenced
the trucks empty again
but it is too much work
to remove a stump
and so they stay
a slowly rotting tombstone
a sawed off symbol
of something so tall and alive
one day there will be
more stumps than trees
one day
we will remember the forests
only by their stumps
all these rolling valleys
of what once was so green

Alexander Shalom Joseph is an award-winning poet, writer and playwright from Gilpin County, and is the author of seven published books. You can find his work and more information about him at alexandershalomjoseph.com.