The Wardrobe's Best Dressed: A Story Interrupted by Connie Soper

This selection, chosen by guest editor Kirsten Kowalewski, is from A Story Interrupted by Connie Soper (Airlie Press 2022).

Tree

Starved of light or water—
fungus-rot eating it like a cancer
from the inside out—even the giant
sequoia will topple one day. This shore pine

done in by the fury
of winter as I listened to wind that gusted
heaving waves over the Pacific.
All night that sea-power
shuddered and thumped. The tree
did not surrender

one branch at a time; an entire body
collapsed—trunk and limbs
clinging to roots that connected it
to earth. Now it waits for chainsaw
and cremation. The ground beneath the
fallen piney crown is soft and sodden;
the air still, silent. Yesterday a house

of branches grew outside my window.
Now, the hollow where life uprooted itself
yawns like a mouth without a voice.
There’s a hole in the landscape, phantom
emptiness against the sky.

Connie Soper is a poet based in Portland, Oregon, who published her first book of poems at the age of 74. Like a collage of memories, this collection delves into the past, always rooted in a strong sense of place. All proceeds from the sale of A Story Interrupted return to the press to support the production of future books. Connie is also the author of a non-fiction book, Exploring the Oregon Coast Trail, and her love of the Oregon landscape and all its trails is reflected in her book.

Kirsten Kowalewski is the editor for online horror fiction review resource Monster Librarian. She has an MLS and a specialist certificate in school library media from Indiana University, has worked as a children’s librarian and elementary school media specialist, and is a lifelong reader.