Two Poems

by Tracie Nichols

Tracie Nichols, M.A., is a Transformative Language Artist writing poetry and facilitating writing experiences from her tiny desk under the wide reach of two old Sycamore trees. Poetry has always helped her make sense of a world that often seems incomprehensible. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Rogue Agent, Text Power Telling, kerning and The Weight of Motherhood anthology.

Spring Breaks

Sap forced to rise.

To relinquish its sugar

for tiny tight-furled leaves.

Chickadees trace

droplets of song from 

bough to genuflecting bough.

I roll the sweetness 

of life across 

my tongue—

sip new air and

speak rivers and 

mountains.

Half the world 

is breaking,

how can you not be?

The Mercy of Leaves

Chickadees trace droplets 

of song from bough to 

genuflecting bough—

a reverence of sound 

and movement.

Out along the corrugated 

edge of awareness

—life from death from life—

the mercy of leaves,

a million verdant voices aligned.

Everything that matters 

is here.