“Listening to L. Cohen, I paint a forest primeval in the backyard of my brain” by Karla Linn Merrifield

surrounding cerebellum’s irregular gray folds,

seeding violet lilacs of language

with the yellow pine of pleasure,

red oaks to ward off fear,

blue spruce among an evergreen assortment

to warrant your great attention.

In my mind’s eye some saplings mature

capable of moody indigo blooms, others

in groves of Chinese orange trees able to come

fully to orange fruition in a single day.


Karla Linn Merrifield, a nine-time Pushcart-Prize nominee and National Park Artist-in-Residence, has had 600+ poems appear in dozens of journals and anthologies. She has 12 books to her credit, the newest of which is Bunchberries, More Poems of Canada, a sequel toGodwit:  Poems of Canada (FootHills), which received the Eiseman Award for Poetry. Forthcoming this fall is Psyche’s Scroll, a full-length poem, published by The Poetry Box Selects. She is assistant editor and poetry book reviewer for The Centrifugal Eye. Visit her blog, Vagabond Poe Redux, at http://karlalinn.blogspot.com. Google her name to learn more; Tweet @LinnMerrifiel; https://www.facebook.com/karlalinn.merrifield.