some real damp grazing words

     Transpiration                                                   

Their breath like a tree’s breath, their silence
like a deer’s silence.
Jean Valentine


This summer I learned about transpiration.
The trees puff out clouds, water
rising invisibly from their leaves


in transparent waves, so much water
from a single tree, so much water
from a tightly planted field of corn.


A shimmering rising of exhaling trees,
and we say: Oh my, the humidity!
and lick the salty rain from our lips.


The deer lie in their secret shade
or pick their way through the woods,
having their fill of new leaves.


They drink in the wet breath of trees,
they feast on cotton clouds, until dusk,
when they suddenly appear at pond’s edge.






                                   Susan Sink














....