Lawrence Bridges - Trees of Ojai

Poet Lawrence Bridges once again shows readers of The Dewdrop how Zen simplicity and awareness can be a sacred thing. In “Trees of Ojai” we become the natural world we move through, passing through earth and root and sky. The attention paid to the green verdant world around us teaches us about connection and patience. Lawrence informed The Dewdrop, “‘The Trees of Ojai’ dissolves the speaker into landscape: root, bark, insect machinery, shade — a self-erasure that arrives at something like peace.”

Trees of Ojai

I became the ground I walk on—
belt up, palms outstretched on the ground,
moving as little as the earth moves,
which is much, over time.
Then I went under, viewed root
and all the insect machinery.
Then my eyes returned to my granite,
woody, or grassy body,
as my moods willed. I’ll never again
see elements separated as heart,
brain, lungs, and legs—
I’ll never reach beyond the shade of oak,
sycamore, eucalyptus, jacaranda,
or smell other than orange,
lemon, or dusty walnut.
I passed forward what I know
or knew, in small boxes for slim safekeeping,
to anyone, likewise, as I’ve kept knowledge received
hidden in the trunk of a tree over there,
an old tree standing with the many
that came before,
in their brief greening
beneath blue.

Lawrence Bridges

Lawrence Bridges’ poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, and Tampa Review. He has published three volumes of poetry: Horses on Drums (Red Hen Press, 2006), Flip Days (Red Hen Press, 2009), and Brownwood (Tupelo Press, 2016). He lives in Los Angeles. You can find him on IG: @larrybridges on the web as www.lawrencebridges.com