The Page Is Silent

By Grace Marsh

even when raised or read aloud

it stays quiet - a hollow expanse of tree 

beneath my fingers - smooth

i stroke it - call back to when it was rough 

bark - leaf - rustle - read

i trace all the forests i ploughed through 

in my search

for better worlds - they came to me 

boreal - spruced  - pined - fired

their snow-capped heads - rising up

their twigged hands outstretched  - reaching - searching

for me - dots on a silent page

a silent page which did once speak

with a tongue like a branch - whipping 

and teeth like dry leaves 

crinkling beneath soled feet - an unfinished pre-

papered conversation - with loud 

sounds and quiet sounds and all the sounds in between

i miss it - the page - the noise

the dendrologist it made of me

By Grace Marsh