{"id":434,"date":"2018-03-16T20:54:28","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T20:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/?p=434"},"modified":"2018-03-16T20:54:28","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T20:54:28","slug":"poem-of-the-month-the-roots-are-horizontal-ladders-by-colby-cedar-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/?p=434","title":{"rendered":"Poem of the Month: The Roots Are Horizontal Ladders by Colby Cedar Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/11338000.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-427\" src=\"http:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/11338000-300x194.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"194\" srcset=\"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/11338000-300x194.jpg 300w, https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/11338000.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">across the path<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">climbing one rung to the other<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">my feet find their way<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">my son is a stranger to me<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">his eyes are giant pools<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">of wet stones.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I want him to be kind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">How can something so tall<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">sway and keep its balance?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The birch lean together<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">in their turning shade<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I find the urge to<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">categorize everything<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">the names of trees and animals<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">what we mean<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">to one another<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">red gooseberry<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">red of the fruit that opens yellow<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">cleanly broken under a wheel<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">red that is swollen and spiny and ripe.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Every day you get closer to leaving me<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">and it is as terrifying<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">as finding<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s1\">a cardinal wing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">\u201cThe Roots Are Horizontal Ladders\u201d was published in the journal <i>The Iowa Review<\/i>, winter 2014.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Colby Cedar Smith holds degrees from Colorado College and Harvard University.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>She is the author of two chapbooks: Seven Seeds of the Pomegranate (2006) and Transplanted (2013).<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>She has been a semi-finalist for the \u201cDiscovery\u201d\/Boston Review Poetry Contest, and a finalist for The Iowa Review Poetry Award, the New Letters Poetry Prize, and the Colorado Prize for Poetry, among others.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Her poems have been published in <i>Bellevue Literary Review<\/i>, <i>Harpur Palate<\/i>, <i>Memorious<\/i>, <i>Mid-American Review<\/i>, <i>Pleiades<\/i>, <i>Potomac Review<\/i>, <i>Saranac Review<\/i>, <i>Spillway<\/i>, and <i>The Iowa Review.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>She lives in NJ with her husband and two kids.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>You can read more of her work at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.colbycedarsmith.com\"><span class=\"s2\">www.colbycedarsmith.com<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; 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