Collaboration

Computers and the internet can be overwhelming and obsessively time-consuming and often maddeningly frustrating. But the web has enabled things to happen that just a few years ago would have been impossible.

When I first heard Canadian writer/poet/musician Robert Priest perform his "Poem for the Ancient Trees", I was moved by it. So I was delighted when it took on a new and further life. Thanks to Marie Wilson of the 15x100 international group of photographers, a collection of photographs has been married with Mr. Priest's poem and music in a wonderful collaboration.

I offer here a poem of mine about a tree. And then a link to the Poem for the Ancient Trees collaboration.

Since I Moved In

In my front yard
There is a tree
A handsome healthy
Tree that's been around
A while though
I've only known it
A year or so
Since I moved in.

It was December
When we met
The tree and me
Its branches bared
To the icy wind
It's quietly endured
Since I moved in.

In Spring
It put out leaves
To take the sun
And patiently
Invited birds
And squirrels to take it too
Since I moved in.

All summer
It dropped seeds
Begging for a family
Or one other tree
To grow beside it
Not to be
Since I moved in.

The Fall has come
The birds have gone their way
The frantic squirrels
Are guessing what will come
And the tree might be
More used to me
Since I moved in.

I do not want to have
A relationship
With this tree.
I do not want it
To depend on me
Or change a thing for me
Since I moved in.

I do not expect it
To do anything
But what it can
Or be a thing
That is not that tree
Since I moved in.

But since I moved in
I have had one
A relationship
With the tree
And it with me
It's plain to see
Since I moved in.

**********


Poem for the Ancient Trees

(make sure your sound is on)

Robert Priest is a poet, playwright, song-writer and novelist.

More about him here and here

Music by Lafferty/Priest. Track produced and arranged by Peter Lafferty.

Photographs by members of 15x100