In memory of Gabrielle Sims
A year after her death
I open Gaby’s sketchbooks.
A year of illness.
A year of trees.
On each page
they sweep upward,
knowing in their trunks and branches,
their souls visible in the charcoal drawings.
I draw a card from the Minoan Tarot,
Arcana XX1,
The World Tree, body of the Goddess,
butterfly priestess on one arm,
lion on a pedestal on the other.
At the base two bird priestesses
and a young brown god.
Reminder that trees are guardians,
stitch together earth and sky,
their roots essential
to life underground,
branches stretching
for news from the wind.
About this Poem
Elizabeth Greene has published three collections of poetry and a novel, A Season Among Psychics. She has also edited/co-edited six books, most recently The Dowager Empress: Poems of Adele Wiseman. A fourth poetry collection is scheduled to appear from Inanna in 2023. Before turning to writing full-time, she taught English at Queen’s. She retired teaching Contemporary Canadian Women Writers, a course she originated.
