• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

The Merwin Conservancy

Inspiring innovation in the arts and sciences by advancing the ideas of W.S. Merwin

  • About
    • The Conservancy
    • W.S. Merwin
    • The Home & Garden
    • Staff, Board & Advisors
  • Garden Programs
    • Open Garden Days
    • School Visits
    • Artists in the Garden
  • Fellowships & Residencies
    • Merwin Creative Teaching Fellowship
    • Multidisciplinary Residencies
  • Events
    • The Green Room
    • Memorial Events & Tributes
  • Journal
    • Poems
    • Palms
    • News & Events
  • Gallery
  • Donate
You are here: Home / Poems / “Trees” by W.S. Merwin

“Trees” by W.S. Merwin

November 6, 2017 By Sara Tekula

Merwin with Trees - Tom Sewell
Photo by Tom Sewell

TREES

I am looking at trees
they may be one of the things I will miss
most from the earth
though many of the ones I have seen
already I cannot remember
and though I seldom embrace the ones I see
and have never been able to speak
with one
I listen to them tenderly
their names have never touched them
they have stood round my sleep
and when it was forbidden to climb them
they have carried me in their branches

 

— W.S. Merwin, from The Compass Flower. Copyright © 1977 by W. S. Merwin.  Used by permission of the publishers.

This poem was recently featured last month at the University of Arizona Poetry Center‘s celebration of the 50,000th book added to their collection. The 50,000th book, Trees, was a limited edition collaboration between W.S. Merwin and artist Charles Hobson, featuring Merwin’s poem.Housed in what looks like a pencil box, Trees opens up accordion-style to reveal the poem printed length-wise across the pages. Richly colored palm trees printed on transparencies emerge from the folds, hiding and revealing the text of the poem underneath as they’re turned.

Thirty copies were made in the spring and summer of 2010, soon after W.S. Merwin was named U.S. Poet Laureate. You can learn more about this project on Charles Hobson’s website. This edition of Trees has been sold out for sometime, but the Poetry Center was able to acquire the artist’s personal copy of Trees for its collection.

“Trees” by W.S. Merwin with images and visual design by Charles Hobson
The artist’s personal copy of “Trees”, signed by the artist and W.S. Merwin, Courtesy University of Arizona Poetry Center

To see the unique and rare book being made, watch this stop-motion animation video below:


To browse through our archive of previously posted Poems of the Week, click here.

To support the preservation of W.S. Merwin’s legacy and our efforts to preserve his home and palm forest for future generations, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to The Merwin Conservancy.

Share this:

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Related

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Linda Mitchell says

    November 26, 2017 at 3:20 am

    Jone, this is a keeper! I’ve already pinned this post to my pinterest poetry board. I love the video of the book making. Such a line….I listen to them tenderly. What a beautiful poem. Thank you for this post.

  2. Robert Bruner says

    January 13, 2018 at 8:42 am

    Also from “The Compass Flower”, 1977.

Footer

SUBSCRIBE TO MONTHLY UPDATES

Search this Site

LATEST FROM THE JOURNAL

Robert Hass and Forrest Gander appear in The Green Room on Oahu and Maui in December 2019 as part of The Merwin Conservancy's arts and ecology salon series

The Merwin Conservancy Welcomes Renowned Poets and Translators Robert Hass and Forrest Gander to The Green Room

“The Artisan World,” by W.S. Merwin

CONNECT

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

The Merwin Conservancy

P.O. Box 809 
Haiku, HI 96708 
808-579-8876
info@merwinconservancy.org

  • Subscribe
  • Read Our Newsletter
  • Contact

Copyright © 2019 The Merwin Conservancy · Log in