blath•er•skite ("blath -er-skahyt")
a person who talks at great length without making much sense
❁
she, the birch tree
flakey integument
curled like her diary's pages,
pale as the milky skin
which she hides from daylight
along with moons and other secrets–
heart-shaped incisions
made by careless lovers
attempting to immortalize
their names
tall and slim
with emaciated limbs.
leaves tinted
with corroded Liberty
shroud her blemishes
with shades of shame,
but they're visible all the same–
forehead smudges
remaining from Ash Wednesday,
stains from periods and
trampled cherries.
anxious woodpeckers
bang on the door to her sanity;
gluttonous undergrowth
chokes her gnarled roots.
in spite of everything,
she persists.
from on high
she's recognized
as an emerald in earth's crown,
known for making
contributions to the canopy
and magnanimous
donations to humanity;
she provides protection to species
who torment and take from her,
exhales oxygen into the lungs
of those who maim her
(deforestation crusaders).
she's a paragon of selflessness,
a testament to survival,
the protagonist in Nature's bible.
she's the image that I see in the mirror
but fail to accept as my own.