Urberliner 🫁

There was one hose & two shaking heads.

hiiiii again!! welcome to another Friday after school special featuring the second winner from our “Poetry School with Crista Siglin” writing contest, Mirthe van Popering!

in this piece, Mirthe (she/her) is responding (brilliantly!) to Crista’s “Interviews with Trees 🌳” prompt. Enjoy!!

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Urberliner 🫁 by Mirthe van Popering

(Tilia)
There was one hose & two shaking heads.
For weeks I stood bare, midsummer, burnt.
Public languishing is no cause for worry;
I am just greenery & lungs & carcass.

(Acer)
You bet I am a street tree,
roots sour in the summer & that,
eat a lot of pretzel sticks,
but don’t drink a thing with that.

(Platanus)
My time is thick as my trunk.
My time is thick as my trunk.
My time is thick as my trunk.
But my rind peels like pain—

(Aesculus)
Those are my conkers, ankle biter.
Step off my root! So young,
but already blind.
You little legged exhaust.

(Robinia)
I am among the six most common trees.
I am called exotic & a thief
of light. Invasive & pleasing,
I live in manicured squares.

(Quercus)
If Your World Ends,
There Will Be Another.
Scan The QR Code.
I am not your service provider.

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About Mirthe (She/Her): Dutch poet Mirthe van Popering traces her roots to the Oosterschelde estuary and resides in Berlin, where she writes, translates and co-curates Phyll Magazine. She studied music, languages, arts and philosophy in Utrecht, cultural analysis in Amsterdam, creative writing at The Writers Studio New York and poetry with Tracy Fuad at the Berlin Writers’ Workshop. Mirthe crafts intricate yet unflinching voices in a poetics that grapples with the fallout of patriarchy, white supremacy, the porosity of language, ecopoetics, desire and the unfiltered truths of dreams. You can follow her on instagram @mirthpop.

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Wowowowww what a journey! If you want to have your own interview with the trees, we’ve left Crista’s original prompt below. And don’t forget, besties, we love to read your results! So slide into our DM’s, comment here, or shoot us an email @ poetrytrapperkeeper@gmail.com with what you come up with!

Interviews with Trees 🌳

1. Find trees that resonate with you.

2. Interview them. You can ask how it feels to have an interconnected root system. Or wind in its branches. And so on. 

3. Make sure to sit with them for their responses. Compare the trees’ answers. 

4. Write a poems that compares and contrasts how the trees responded to your questions. 

Tree you next week. 👋🌲