Power Tools

Lightning struck trees
know the power of electricity
conducting it on stormy nights

grounding to earth a force four
times hotter than the surface
of the sun. A billion volts of

wild lightning burning and
toppling trees to their roots.
And yet they understand.

What trees fear is greed, which
lightning in its unpremeditated
will, lacks.  They fear the intent

of corporate chain saws.
Of bulldozers. Of clear-cuts.
Of the relentless ancient assault

of handheld axes motivated by
the mindless greed of war.
Whole forests chopped, pre-dating

controlled electricity by thousands
of years. Armies of hand tools
turned the Garden of Eden into

desert long before Franklin
flew his kite. It's not the tool.
Nor is it the power behind

the tool. Wood laughs at
120VAC.  It's the intent behind
the stroke, plugged or unplugged

that frightens wood.
To heal or to hoard, that
is the question. Spirit?

Out of love for the fingers
of my hand, I am here, now
the instant I turn on the saw

never more aware
than when the blade is spinning.
But no more than when wielding

a razor sharp hand tool.
Then listen, if not to the tree
or to the wood, to your hands.

Is your body electric turned on?
Careful then, mind the blade!
It can heal or it can hoard.

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