Poems by Dee Allen

HYPERION


Its height rivals 
The Statue Of Liberty
And mighty General Sherman
In Sequoia National Park.
True titan of
California's redwood trees,
Hyperion
Shows up on
No known map,
No posted signs,
No visible trails
Lead to it.
At closer look,
Hyperion,
Over 600 in years,
At its peak, 116 metres,
Has a much smaller
Body than one can imagine.

So many have strayed
From the foot-beaten course,
Whacking through overgrown green,
So obsessed to see
The lonesome tall tree
Of legend.

Rubbish 
From outside the wilderness
Thrown on the way there,
Food wrappings, toilet paper, you name it,
Close to the redwood's roots.
Trampled fern, worn away rusted bark.
The curious destroy
A scene they enjoy,
Making them an ecological problem.

Fragile is the health
That's Hyperion's burden.
Growth by inches,
Death by feet—

Hyperion
Stays off-map,
Out of sight,
Off-trail for its preservation.

Anyone closing in on 
The lonesome tall tree gets fined and jailed.
When the seemingly
Absurd becomes necessary—

SHINRIN-YOKU

The Japanese have a bizarre name 
For an activity I indulge in:

“Forest-bathing”.

Considering this off-kilter term,
I do enjoy

Immersing myself in a pool of bay laurels,
Swim past white alders with strides of my feet,
Around evergreens, I make broad strokes,
Swim through rows of live oaks,
Paddle—but figuratively—into redwood groves,
Sit on a rock at woodland's edge and soak
And catch precious breath for a bit—
Ears are open, within their range 
Recurring breeze caresses maple leaves,
Birds trill high from proximate trees,
Rabbit's movement in the brush,
Dead cedar needles crunch under my sneakered feet,
Curious hands feel fresh soil, embedded pebbles, dewy grass & clovers,
Sizable body of eucalyptus split at
The lowest trunk, no doubt
Caused by fierce wind & rain, shed bark as always—
Don't touch that poison ivy! Unless you want warty palms!

You could say I dig
Bathing in the forest
Without the wetness.
Personally, I would call it:

Diving deep into the standing green.

--
[For Nana Boateng and Oksana Mauricio a.k.a. Nuria Butterfly.]

Shinrin-yoku: Japanese: “Forest-bathing.”

About the Poet:

Dee Allen is African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California U.S.A. Active on creative writing & Spoken Word since the early 1990s. Author of 8 books–Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater, Skeletal Black [ all from POOR Press ], Elohi Unitsi [ Conviction 2 Change Publishing ], Rusty Gallows: Passages Against Hate [ Vagabond Books ], Plans [ originally Nomadic Press, now re-issued from Black Lawrence Press ] and his newest, Crimson Stain [ EYEPUBLISHEWE ]–and 72 anthology appearances under his figurative belt so far.