Honoring the gods of the vertical

OK, time to get up and at 'em.  I've allowed myself a week of lazy time after the busy-ness of the previous 3 weeks. Time to get vertical.

Vertical

by Linda Pastan

Perhaps the purpose
of leaves is to conceal
the verticality
of trees
which we notice
in December
as if for the first time:

row after row
of dark forms
yearning upwards.

Honoring the horizontal: I envy John his ability to take afternoon naps on the weekend.

And since we will be
horizontal ourselves
for so long,
let us now honor
the gods
of the vertical:

Tall grass in back of the house.

stalks of wheat
which to the ant
must seem as high
as these trees do to us,

Chicago buildings are awesome.

silos and
telephone poles,
stalagmites
and skyscrapers.

Oaks aren't the only inhabitants of our back yard.

But most of all
these winter oaks,
these soft-fleshed poplars,
this birch

Madrone trees outnumber birch where I live. Cool bark.

whose bark is like
roughened skin
against which I lean
my chilled head,
not ready
to lie down.

"Vertical" by Linda Pastan, from Traveling Light. © Norton, 2010.

I really like that poem.