Poet Jenna Wysong Filbrun has been published by The Dewdrop before, and we were overjoyed to learn of her new collection of poems, Away, forthcoming from Finishing Line Press. We’d like to share a poem from Away, and with Jenna’s permission, we present you readers with “Aspiration”, a poem of both yearning and wistfulness, examining all the virtues of the cottonwood trees out in the back pasture. Jenna reminds us that we, as a people and a civilization, have so very much to learn from the natural world. She reminds us that something as seemingly simple as a tree has so much to teach us about endurance and beauty and timelessness. To read “Aspiration” in print form, as well as a gorgeous selection of Jenna’s other new poems, pick up a copy of Away at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/away-by-jenna-wysong-filbrun/
Aspiration
The cottonwoods in the back pasture
stretch a hundred feet into the sky
and under the earth,
through eras of people,
to hold the wind
and release things into it –
the snow of their seeds in spring,
sheets of yellow-gray leaves in fall.
They bob and twist their tops
in summer storms
and flutter their tips in the sun.
They freeze fast
to clear winter nights
under the moon,
dewdrop-still.
Jenna Wysong Filbrun
Jenna Wysong Filbrun is the author of Away (Finishing Line Press, 2023). Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in publications such as Blue Heron Review, Deep Wild, The Dewdrop, Eco Theo Review, and others. She writes poetry as a form of prayer and to connect with other writers and readers in the search for meaning and truth. She lives in Indiana with her husband Mike and their dogs, Oliver and Lewis. Find her online at www.jennawysongfilbrun.wixsite.com/poetry or on Twitter @Jenna_W_Filbrun.