I can always count on Georgia Heard for getting me through a writing slump. She sends out a monthly prompt calendar. Each prompt is easily accessible from where I sit at my kitchen table. The prompt for July 8th was “Describe a place by what’s missing from it.”
My gaze went directly to the window to the dead satsuma tree outside. We lost it in the big freeze of 2025. I’ve asked my yard man (my husband) to let it be. I was hoping to attract downy woodpeckers. In the spring passion vine sprang up around the trunk of the tree. As I had hoped, the space has become alive with bees and butterflies and birds.
Dead Tree is Alive
With passion vine
open purple flowers
for fritillary lighting.
A suet feeder invaded
by raccoon fingers
lies open and empty.
Old satsuma leafless
sweet fruit a memory.
Lichen clings, fluffs in misty rain.
You are holding hope
of feathers
on bare branches,
Alive.
Margaret Simon, draft
Reflections on the Teche 
I saw a downy woodpecker up close this morning. So cute. Hooray for leaving dead trees to come alive again!
Your poem is a lovely way to remember and honor this special tree. Your poem also reminds me of a tree in Aldo Leopold ‘s book, “Sand County Almanac,” that had been hit by lightning, and how important it is to take care of trees in all stages of their lives, thanks Margaret.
Oh, how wonderful that you kept it, Margaret & yes, it clearly is still alive. Love the voice in the poem, speaking to that elder!
Margaret, appreciate the hope you share in the natural cycle of the tree, keeping your yardman:) away from it. Love… Old satsuma leafless sweet fruit a memory. Lichen clings, fluffs in misty rain. What a wonderful natural bird and bee feeder you have!
What a beautiful sideways meditation on the way those who have left us continue to support the living.
I read “fritillary lighting” two ways. Beautiful.
I love a word that can be interpreted in different ways. Thanks!
I’m so glad you didn’t let your tree man take down that old soul. Love “holding hope…on bare branches. Alive.” — If that isn’t a testament to all of us these days! Thank you, Margaret.
Margaret, I love downy woodpeckers! That’s the woodpeckers I see the most of. Great prompt! Great title! I am especially drawn to these lines,
“for fritillary lighting.”
“by racoon fingers” (I see your racoon.)
“Lichen clings, fluffs in misty rain.”
I love your last stanza!
“You are holding hope
of feathers
on bare branches,
Alive.”
Remember you asked me for a pic of when I read your book, What’s That Sound? Birds of the Bayou. I’m sorry no one took a photo of when I read your book to Madi. Though, that is a great idea. Unfortunately, Madi lives in WI and I’m not sure when I’ll see her again. However, would you like me to ask my niece, Nicole if someone can take a pic of her reading your book to her daughter, Madi, who’s my grandniece?
Thanks Gail. No need to go to any trouble for a picture.
To bring life to your dead tree through your poem is a beautiful way of honoring nature. As many said your words, “You are holding hope/of feathers/on bare branches,/Alive”, resonate with me. Your thoughts breath of life. Margaret, you must be thrilled to watch the tree and the lives that find peace there.