We pass through the grasp and cling of briers, under dogwoods opening their white crosses, to plant Ozark Chinquapins, hoping to bring them back from blight. I peer into each hole we step over, wondering who lives here, whose neck bends, whose legs curl, who takes rest in this womb of soil. I want them for neighbors. Am I some body these tree roots yawn for? Can I take shelter in their place?
Tina Mozelle Braziel is the author of Known by Salt (Anhinga Press), winner of the Philip Levine Prize for Poetry, and Rooted by Thirst (Porkbelly Press). She directs the Ada Long Creative Writing Workshop for high school students at UAB. She and her husband, novelist James Braziel, live and write in a glass cabin that they are building by hand in Blount County. They are currently writing a memoir about building their home.
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