Marie Marchand
A Pushcart Prize nominee, Marie Marchand served as the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Ellensburg, WA, 2022–24. Her poetry has appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, Crannóg Magazine, Catamaran Literary Reader, California Quarterly, and Tikkun. Her previous books include Gifts to the Attentive (Winter Goose Publishing, 2022).
Marie is a graduate of Naropa University and the Iliff School of Theology where she studied psychology, religion, and peacemaking. Her two passions are poetry and mental health. She enjoys living on the sunny side of Washington with her two rescued min pins, Benny and Joon.
Mostly Sweet, Lovely, Human Things $19.99
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Poem from Mostly Sweet, Lovely, Human Things
Ode to Aspen
I grew up surrounded by trees, moved through my formative years in cathedrals of cottonwood, poplar, and elm. But more than any other, it’s you, adoring aspen, that I recall from girlhood. When bored, I would eat orange wedges on my back underneath your lattice canopy of waving opulence, sunlight glistening between slim branches. I’d count windshakes of vesper and as if the leaves were applauding my rudimentary math, a dappled baptism streamed across my face and arms. The innocence! The beauty! To this day, the sight of you fills me with a peace so deep—so simultaneously placid and wild—that in your presence, I become a girl again. Underneath your undulating branches (a woven bassinet cradling me), I rest. I press on through this tumultuous life taking comfort in your seasonal, yet steady, presence. What a gift— your pure alacrity!
