Remembrance

In precious stillness,

filtered moonlight dances with the campfire.

Silence is broken

 by the hoot of an owl and crack of flame.

 We’re gratefully at ease

 in the midst of you,

 our beloved steadfast paladins.

 Lying on the softest floor

we deeply breathe your fragrance.                 

Now safe enough to tell our truths and

 share our innocent laughter,

 we drift into contented dreams.

Youthful sisters

in sleeping bag cocoons

blissfully tucked into allegiant roots

 defended by your branches.

by Susan Norton Lewis

Entry Form

The entry form for "Intertwined, Requiem for the Trees" show at the Harbor History Museum is now available.  A note to writers, please submit your written contributions as soon as possible.  Organizers will mount them for the show.  Please contact us at kopachucktrees@yahoo.com  if you have any questions or if you would like this form sent to you via email.  Thanks for being involved.

In Reverence of Trees

"Tall One" by Patricia Rush

From John Buday, Key Peninsula master carpenter;  "I have often had the thought when laying hands on large timbers laying on the sawhorses that I am about to work with the bones of a huge living thing that was brought down by an act of violence. That I need to respect the sacrifice, not waste the thing, see that it is put to the best use and that it is sustained in that use for as long as possible."


This article from the Seattle Times  speaks to our connection to the land and specifically to the particular way that old growth trees affect us... it's hard to put into words, you can feel it though and that's what we are doing here.  It's the mandate of artists; painters, poets, carpenters, musicians... all, to bring the intangible to life and in doing so, inform our choices with consideration for future generations.

The Sentinel

"The Sentinel" by Margo Macdonald

A Forest Garden

Forest triptych by Beverly Pedersen

A flurry of tree painting has been happening at Beverly Pedersen's Art Barn on the Key Peninsula.  This triptych is painted on metal with sign painters enamel and is designed to be placed outside.  It is double sided, with leaves and ferns painted on the back of each panel.... leave it to Beverly to push the boundaries of possibility.

A Poem for the Park

Ode to the Doomed Trees of Kopachuck Park

O large and foredoomed Firs, whose shady depths 

retain the fleeting sun and cooling rain; 

our sighs for you are crying through the boughs.

This summer eve among the dark'ning green

where pairs of fox kits played about your roots,

I mourn your soft wood beds and long-held home. 

Salal and huckleberry will abide

and gray-blue tides flow on beyond the land

long past the killing of your time and kind.

And we'll return in passing, even stand

where now your noble crown and glory waits,

as witness to the swift and deadly cuts.

We humans hate the ill that can't be cured, 

and serve the break that takes a better death, 

nor stop to care what road your soul prefers.

But still, it seems a cruel and fatal plan 

of man to demonstrate the flawed design

that saves the woods by cutting out the trees. 

Patty Craig Kennedy, Gig Harbor, Washington

Tree Huggers Show Their Stuff

Click this link to read an article in the Kitsap Sun by Charlee Glock-Jackson.