Two Poems by Julie de Belle

 

I AM TREE

 

 

Bones like branches slightly twisted

With knots and veins

Sinuous

Skin like bark

Tattooed by time

I am a tree

Weathered to leather

Beaten to solid

My heart soft like moss

The space for my soul safely swaddled within

Blossoming with a myriad of memories

Thought-mushrooms

Rooted to my life

My arms reaching out to those I love

I stand like a tree on the path of history

Strong like oak

Warm like fir

Sweet like spruce or lilac

More beautiful and bountiful than an apple tree

In full bloom 

JAMES BAY

Bug bites

                    Black bugs

Speckled air

                         With sand and fleas

     See siipii flow

See piisum glow

Sweet smell of evergreen like lime

Mornings of mist

And forever fog over rivers and lakes

Scent of iron on children’s skin

Muffled whispers wearing moccasins in the night

Rocky roads flanked by copper niipii

Afar afar

A peak

The soft green stomach of mountain

And sand stone at its feet

 

Siipii = river

Piisum= sun

Niipii= water

Julie de Belle - Born in Ottawa Ontario, but living in Quebec, Julie de Belle has been writing poetry in both official languages since her early teens. She was a member of the Literary Translators of Canada where she first discovered the craft of translation with Words on the Move. She retired from her teaching career as a drama and second language teacher (French and English) and dedicates most of her time to writing, poetry and fiction, and being involved in a community of writers.