Jory Mickelson

Under The Lawrence Tree, 1929/2021

Look at all that
sky, blue & black by turn,
the stars hot & certain.
On a copy of a carpenter’s bench
I join you in all that taking-in: the branches contorting, the depth, the sway
bird call
bird call
bird call

To lie here as so many
have, now all the artists turned
to ash, scattered & the tree                                               
continues beyond all
& will continue to outlast
the hundred lives who have come
under this shade
My eyes unfocus
& my ears go & they go
home to the ocean, wind
in boughs across the mountain,
distant breakers rolling
1500 miles from the man I’ve loved
all these years
as well as I could.
Here, take what is offered
& go, susurrus of wind, magpies
& their slow rattle, the unending blue
a door, scent of needle duff

We are not meant to stay
on this mountain. For a moment
I almost lie beside you,
your dry, sure hand
conjured next to mine
Fly buzz
woodpecker knocking
its hellos
wind again against my face
This might be the closest
we will ever come
to knowing one another
What a life, Georgia,
to go on
in pigment & imagination.
Eye pondering upwards, body reclined
& rising
& rising
into those twisted limbs

from the author:

“Under The Lawrence Tree, 1929/2021” references the 1929 painting by Georgia O’Keeffe of a ponderosa pine at night. She painted this tree several times on a summer visit to D.H. Lawrence’s ranch outside of Taos, New Mexico. The property is currently owned by the University of New Mexico and the tree is still standing.