A (Pine) Forest – 31st July 2025

~ shaun tenzenmen

silence loud
penetrating
the canvas of boughs

investigating
insects burrow down
through the carpet of needles

soft and damp
upheavals
a dripping darkness

with no echo
wolf eyes watching?
it feels so

stilted humid breath
whispers
into the silent depth

withers
dull and dissipated

joining in
accumulated
silent wings

flapping
the quiet life
within

Written (later) for the GloPoWriMo prompt Day 14:
Imagine the “music” of a place without people in it. So today, try writing a poem that describes a place, particularly in terms of the animals, plants or other natural phenomena there. Sink into the sound of your location, and use a conversational tone. Incorporate slant rhymes (near or off-rhymes, like “angle” and “flamenco”) into your poem. And for an extra challenge – don’t reference birds or birdsong!
This poem references Queen’s Copse, Holtwood, Dorset, England. A place I often visited in my youth.

7th Aug 2025 – conveniently shared with dVerse this week too.

13 thoughts on “A (Pine) Forest – 31st July 2025”

  3. Dorset has so much woodland, Shawn, I would love to visit it again. I admire the way you created atmosphere in this poem, using oxymoron in the opening stanza to set the scene, the ‘dripping darkness’, and the ‘accumulated silent wings flapping the quiet life within’.

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