'In The Trees,' truth pours from the lips of Tampa poet Kennedy Engasser

The older I get, the more difficult I find it to discuss feelings and situations with other people. Words make things complicated. I remember when I was a young kid and my friends and I would talk to each other about anything and everything. We didn’t think. We just spoke. I wish it could be like that now. I wish I knew how to say all the things that need to be said. But I don’t. I’m not sure that anyone does.

Follow @kennedy.engasser on Instagram.

In The Trees
By Kennedy Engasser

Last Night

I had a dream

That you and I were two kids

Climbing in the trees. I told you everything.

At that age, roots had not ripped into our stomach.

Did not branch through our esophagus, entangle our lips and teeth.

Last night I had a dream. Our whispering words did not change everything.

Truth poured from my lips, a steady stream, I spoke, it poured, I told you anything,

All my feelings had no filter, floating free, I said it all.

Then suddenly

I woke up.

We had

Grown up.

Six feet tall.

I could not say a thing.

For National Poetry Month, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay asked Dennis Amadeus, who leads The GrowHouse Collective based in Ybor City, Florida, to help us reach unsung poets. We asked them to write about trees—any trees—and they responded.

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