Tricia Knoll

Tricia Knoll is a Vermont poet recently moved to the cold north woods from Oregon. These poems come from a manuscript in progress about the transition called Wild Apples & Maple Wings. Website: triciaknoll.com

“I have heard of a man in Maine who copied the whole Bible onto birch bark.”

-Henry David Thoreau’s journal of November 1, 1851

Before I knew what Thoreau wrote
I sent you a letter from the dogs
written on birch bark that asked
you to sniff it to know where
they had been, how they wished
you were there.

It must have been like that
for that man. Distilling:

Be kind.
Keep in mind
how hard that is,
but relish
the journey.
Ignore what is false.
Smell the birch
to remember sweet.
Make it into a canoe
when you simply must
get away.