The Forest by Maria Beben

The Forest Maria Beben We tasted the achelike a familiar cocktail,one we hopedto never drink again.We took a branchthat posed a dangerand added more kindling,looking around for anything that would burn.We gathered and addeduntil the branch became a forestand we couldn’t see throughto the other side.We felt betrayedand confusedand didn’t understand how we got there.We stood on opposite ends of this forestand felt the weightof a growing terror.But at the exact momentwhen we reached for a box of matchesto burn it all down,we remembered that trees have branchesand began to climb.From the top,in the clear, crisp air,we could seethat the forest wasn’t a forest at alljust a few treesthat we could help each othernavigate through.So we climbed back downand cleared the weedsand made a pathand together,celebrated the trees for what they werebefore walking out the other side —Together.More from Maria Beben ↓@em_beewriting on Instagram@mbeben on SubstackHer first poetry book, A Trail of Lost Buttons, is available on Amazon and Etsy.She is currently preparing her second poetry book for publication.Mentioned in this episode:Write After with One Poem OnlyWrite After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice. If you want to join: Listen to a poem from the month of April on One Poem Only, then write your own in response. I will pick one for each day to read in June for a special series: One Poem After 🍎🍏 Submissions close May 15.Write After Submissions Form