My poem “Longleaf Pine Forest: A Portrait” published in “The Fire Rages On” issue of Geez Magazine this summer. This summer’s issue also happens to be the final one for the magazine (you can read more about the call to Geez dormancy this season here). I served as the final Poetry Editor with Geez.
While Geez sleeps this season, the longleaf pine forest is very much alive. Threatened, yet alive. As you can see above, “Longleaf Pine Forest: A Portrait” opens with an epigraph from the book Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Janisse Ray. Janisse’s book provides an excellent overview of the history, beauty, and precarity of this distinct ecosystem. The longleaf pine forest stretches from Texas to Virginia, though only 3% of the original forest remains. Much has been destroyed from overzealous logging practices, as well as turpentine harvesting. Yet this ecoystem is one of the most diverse in North America.
The longleaf pine forest also happens to be one connected to my own ancestry. Last year, I spent some time on pilgrimage in my home state of Georgia. I wanted to acquaint myself with the lands that had raised me, lands whose names and traits I had largely overlooked all of my life. Until last year. I took the below picture last summer, while meandering through the hush of south Georgia longleaf pine forests.
My poem pays homage to this indigenous ecosystem by naming the forest’s characters and qualities. “Longleaf Pine Forest: A Portrait” is a shape poem. Also known as “concrete poetry,” shape poetry is simply poetry written in a shape that is related to the content of the poem. My poem is written in the form of a longleaf pine forest, with the columns on the left and right representing widely-spaced trees, and the words in the middle representing the sun and the fire that meanders through the forest.
Shape poetry is an easy way to provide structure, beauty, and added meaning to a poem. No wonder the form has attracted poets since antiquity! As this article explains, “shape poems were already a popular literary form in Ancient Greece as early as 2 [BCE].” Famous examples of shape poetry include “Easter Wings” by 17th-century poet George Herbert, and another contemporary ecopoem “Whenever you see a tree” by Padma Venkatraman.
Is there a shape poem that particularly enchants you? Have you written a shape poem before? I’d love to hear more!
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