The Woods in Hawthorne
I tried to explain to Silvia
what her name meant to the
neoplatonists
but she didn't care
no one else at the table
cared either
honestly I was not trying to
seem smart
when I held the table
hostage to my conversation
my voice escalating as I
spoke.
On the walk home I was
thinking more about the woods
and what they mean. The
dense woods
of early America. An old forest with spooks
and skookums staring out of the dark.
Americans had barely hacked
their way onto this continent
the forest was bigger than
us
the trees were the original
inhabitants of this land
the forest actively hated us
then
it sided with the natives
against us.
No one knew what was in the
forest.
there were dangerous animals
like ferocious Pilgrims
dogged in their zeal and
zealous in their dogma
there certainly would have
been devil worshipers
on Saturday.
But Hawthorne's mind often
transplanted itself
to southern Europe where he
quickly rooted
in more ancient soil. The
Roman woods
created a Sylvan fawn and a
marble garden
a pool and a fountain of
myth
the stillness and gentleness
of the forest
the strong odor of lilacs
which have not yet become
cliche in 1860.
