Matriarchal Root System by Tracee Clapper

Trees bending creak 
like knobbled knees 
branches are fingers extending
from an old woman’s gnarled knuckles

wisps of hair tremble in the breath
of an entire forest’s combined exhale 
limbs shiver as her clothes fall
bare, her body’s scars 

carved and twisting up and down
her trunk, mingled with night shadows 
reflecting of the moon and stars
constellations map the way 

far underground
to her thick and tangled roots.

Tracee Clapper lives with her husband and their children, in Charleston, SC. She spends time in and draws inspiration from natural bird habitats. Some of her work has been published in The Blue Nib. She writes to heal her soul and those of anyone else within whom her work resonates.