The Weaver
Emilee Wirshing
Years before my parents wed
my father kept
the branches of three trees:
peach,
apricot,
nectarine
their sapping cylinders
fresh leaking of life,
with his knife
bore them ports,
bound them with snippets of string.
Sweet California deluge
entangled them, wrists and knees,
each branch palming
a soft pink globe in triumph.
Now, my father
will fuse his ankle;
the agony of his every step
envies those early leaves
how they were yellow
before they were green,
how they unfolded, leading
always to pearly petals
which cared little for progress
on old scars, but rather
the sun and the season
and the urge to bloom.
###
Emilee Wirshing is a librarian and lifelong Nevadan. She earned her BA in creative writing and literature from James Madison University and her MLIS from San Jose State University. Emilee advocates for local poets and creativity in the community by hosting various poetry open mic nights and writing workshops through Henderson Libraries. She has served as a judge for the Library of Congress ‘Letters About Literature’ Contest, and was the founding poetry editor of Noble / Gas Qtrly. Her poetry has been published in 300 Days of Sun, Infinite Rust, Quiddity, Helen, and Thing. Anthologies Clark and Legs of Tumbleweed, Wings of Lace also include her work. Her first chapbook, american dream houses, was published by Tolsun Books earlier this year.
Years before my parents wed
my father kept
the branches of three trees:
peach,
apricot,
nectarine
their sapping cylinders
fresh leaking of life,
with his knife
bore them ports,
bound them with snippets of string.
Sweet California deluge
entangled them, wrists and knees,
each branch palming
a soft pink globe in triumph.
Now, my father
will fuse his ankle;
the agony of his every step
envies those early leaves
how they were yellow
before they were green,
how they unfolded, leading
always to pearly petals
which cared little for progress
on old scars, but rather
the sun and the season
and the urge to bloom.
###
Emilee Wirshing is a librarian and lifelong Nevadan. She earned her BA in creative writing and literature from James Madison University and her MLIS from San Jose State University. Emilee advocates for local poets and creativity in the community by hosting various poetry open mic nights and writing workshops through Henderson Libraries. She has served as a judge for the Library of Congress ‘Letters About Literature’ Contest, and was the founding poetry editor of Noble / Gas Qtrly. Her poetry has been published in 300 Days of Sun, Infinite Rust, Quiddity, Helen, and Thing. Anthologies Clark and Legs of Tumbleweed, Wings of Lace also include her work. Her first chapbook, american dream houses, was published by Tolsun Books earlier this year.