Faithful Forest

Alberto Ríos

A poster featuring art by Doug and Mike Starn shows black tree branches splayed against a white and pale-yellow sky. Below is an excerpt from the poem Faithful Forest by Alberto Ríos.

Faithful Forest (an excerpt)

The leaves liked the wind, and went with it.
The trees grew more leaves, but wind took them all.

And then the bare trees were branches, which in their frenzy
Made people think of so many ideas—

Branches were lines on the paper of sky,
Drawing shapes on the shifting clouds

Until everyone agreed that they saw horses.

This poem appears in Alberto Ríos' collection Not Go Away Is My Name (Copper Canyon Press, 2020).
See it split, see it change (2008) © Doug & Mike Starn, MTA NYC Transit South Ferry Station.
Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design.

You can purchase the volume here.

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