Dear Ms. Dorianne Laux,
My name is Ferial, and I am a 14-year-old in 8th grade.
As I scrolled through the list of poets for this Dear Poet project, your poem was the one that connected with me most. I felt that it described the most beautiful and admirable elements of nature and its life. My thoughts, following those of admiration, were those of curiosity, wondering if the trees in this poem are an outlet for expressing something deeper and if you’re using them as a metaphor for something else.
While reading your poem, “Life of Trees”, I was incredibly curious as to how you came to write it. The more I read it, the more I discovered about nature and its connection with humans. What was your writing process, and how did you select specific details and descriptive language? There seems to be a lot of richness and layers of meaning and emotion, and I cannot help but wonder how it was born, and by what it was inspired.
I interpret “Life of Trees” to be a snapshot and analogy of the world around us, capturing the essence and minds of trees. A work of observation on every level, inspired by our own lives. I see it even as much more, and I am eager to discover the hidden meanings and inspirations behind the words that have been taken from your own life experience.
beings
from the muted world who care
nothing for Money, Politics, Power,
Will or Right, who want little from the night
but a few dead stars going dim, a white owl
lifting from their limbs,
The passage above is one of my favorite parts of the poem. It is written so subtly and beautifully with such powerful underlying meaning.
I figure it must be nice to be satisfied with the stars like they are.
Unlike how many people remain unsatisfied with their lives no matter what it brings them. I often wish humanity was able to view the world through the lens of this poem. Through the lens of the trees.
Through this passage, I feel the pain and the beauty, the simplicity and the complexity of everything around me. It connects me with the heavy pulse, the hum in the wind, and the breath of trees. It is almost incredibly painful the way it is all they want. Among all space, the universe, and this planet, they want very little. There is something quite painful about it that I just cannot put a finger on.
When I near the end of the poem, I feel like I am saying goodbye to family and friends after a gathering and a long night. I am walking to my car, the path illuminated by only a few outdoor lights. The night cold and windy, the noise of the trees pushing through and around the wind. I feel like I am breathing with the trees, the rise and fall of my chest perfectly inline.
Each breath is deep and full of fresh air that the trees have given to us. I feel like I have just closed a book that I will now call my favorite. The kind of book and the kind of ending that makes you sit for a while with your eyes squinted just so in admiration and bewilderment. I feel like I have just woken from a dream. Woken up and walked over to my window seat, sitting and watching the sunrise behind the silhouette of trees.
I feel like I have lived differently, that I have experienced and revisited a plethora of emotions that I have experienced in my lifetime.
I have gotten slightly carried away with this letter, even after condensing my initial 4 page thoughts, but there is just so much that I connect to and wish to express. Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and responses to your wonderful work, and thank you for creating poems like these for all people to consume, and for all people to hopefully experience and enjoy the way I have.
Sincerely,
Ferial