This weekend I’m taking part in the Art of Poetry Soiree, a celebration and fundraiser for Milwaukee SCORES.* This is the fifth year I’ve accepted this invitation to choose a poem written by one of the soccer-player poets in this wonderful program. Area artists are asked to chose from a list of poems the children have created in hopes that it will inspire a work of art to donate to the auction.

I chose a poem by 8-year old Lily which touched me immediately. I’d recently finished reading two books about trees: a novel by Richard Powers called The Overstory and a non-fiction by arborist William Bryant Logan called Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees. Both are excellent! Presently, many trees in our neighborhood are needing to be cut down because they are diseased, which breaks my heart. I love trees… and I love what the America Scores program does to help kids get on the right path.

The title of Lily’s poem is “Trees”:

Trees are tall
Trees are short
Some are maple
Some are oak
Leaves are yellow
Leaves are green
These are the beautiful trees I have seen

*America SCORES is a transformational after-school program which educates and prepares 1st-5th grade students to lead healthy and confident lives. For more information: America Scores in Milwaukee