Choices
Watch this visual collage of the poem “Choices” by Tess Gallagher. You can also read the poem aloud below. After listening to the poem aloud several times consider the questions below:
Choices
I go to the mountain side
of the house to cut saplings,
and clear a view to snow
on the mountain. But when I look up,
saw in hand, I see a nest clutched in
the uppermost branches.
I don’t cut that one.
I don’t cut the others either.
Suddenly, in every tree,
an unseen nest
where a mountain
would be.
For reflection alone or together:
What word or phrase from the poem stands out to you?
What about that word or phrase draws your attention?
Is there an action that might follow from this word or phrase?