You Speak to Me in Trees by Elana Wolff

The title alone is enough to draw me to these poems - it is a title I would have loved to have claimed for my own work. This book is a sweet collection that speaks to nature, love, heritage, family and life. Each word is perfectly placed. "Beginning Mourning" reminds me of the end of my mother's life, "The puffiness/ leaves her face in the quiet of/ dying her beauty returns; we kiss her / cooling cheek and cry, / we walk with her through the doors/ the final time." And after death, from the poem "Soft Talk," we are left in this place of calm and peace: "Overhead soar/ four high pines. A yellow bird is brushing/ her sunny chest against a trunk. / You have such faith in soft talk/ you speak to me in trees."

Read more about You Speak to Me in Trees at the Guernica Editions website.