It has been suggested
that last year the trees didn’t absorb
enough CO 2 which raises
the question: is nature’s carbon sink failing?
Perhaps it is, or perhaps it is too much
grief—here, as carbon dioxide
—to absorb. As in nobody asks
the trees if there’s a way
we could help (by reducing our grief
—CO 2 —that is) considering
they’ve also been known now
to talk. Known to establish networks of
communication. Suppose
one of us went up to an oak tree
idling in a field, said hello, mate!
(they don’t mind being called different
things, call them Quercus quercus)
asked how much
grief—here,
CO 2 —
would be
too much,
I’m cer-
tain it’d
answer.
_______________
Jayant Kashyap is the author of the New Poets Prize-winning pamphlet Notes on Burials (smith|doorstop, 2025). His poems have featured in Poetry, Poetry London, Poetry Northwest, and Poetry Wales. Kashyap is currently working on a manuscript about the colour ‘blue’.
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