Poem of the Week | January 06, 2014
James Henry Knippen: "Oaks"
This week we offer a new poem by James Henry Knippen. Knippen’s poems can be found in 32 Poems, Colorado Review, West Branch, Hayden’s Ferry Review, DIAGRAM, 1913: A Journal of Forms, and elsewhere. He currently lives in Texas, where he serves as the poetry editor of Newfound and teaches at Texas State University.
Author’s note:
Our annual family reunions in Green Lake, Wisconsin, began well before I was born and continued until 2009, when the Oakwood Lodge, the bed and breakfast where we stayed, closed for business. The Oakwood first opened in 1867 and sat on a bluff overlooking Big Green Lake, which could be admired through the tall oak trees that haunted the yard between rocky shore and the lodge’s wraparound porch. When I was a child, these trees suggested permanence. By the midpoint of each weeklong vacation, time no longer existed. The slew of bluegill, perch, and rock bass we hooked was perpetual. But as I grew older, the trees became more and more dilapidated. By the time the Oakwood shut down for good, many were trunks with no crowns.
Oaks
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