"Eviction No. 255" by Laine Montgomery
"We live and learn by the trees.
Our teachers, all around us
if we choose to see.
An owl came to us,
watching us, watching her.
Her home, a tree that she returns to
time and time again.
This mighty oak that watches our home,
guarding us with her shade,
our dappled sunlight her gift.
The lesson that we must learn now:
It was never ME, it has always been WE.
Each creature,
big as the possum,
small as an ant -
coexisting among themselves.
Each fitting like a puzzle piece
into the sycamore’s grooves and limbs.
They are owed their lost dwelling.
It was not ours to take."
Watercolor + Colored Pencil on Sycamore Wood
8” Diameter
2021
"We live and learn by the trees.
Our teachers, all around us
if we choose to see.
An owl came to us,
watching us, watching her.
Her home, a tree that she returns to
time and time again.
This mighty oak that watches our home,
guarding us with her shade,
our dappled sunlight her gift.
The lesson that we must learn now:
It was never ME, it has always been WE.
Each creature,
big as the possum,
small as an ant -
coexisting among themselves.
Each fitting like a puzzle piece
into the sycamore’s grooves and limbs.
They are owed their lost dwelling.
It was not ours to take."
Watercolor + Colored Pencil on Sycamore Wood
8” Diameter
2021
"We live and learn by the trees.
Our teachers, all around us
if we choose to see.
An owl came to us,
watching us, watching her.
Her home, a tree that she returns to
time and time again.
This mighty oak that watches our home,
guarding us with her shade,
our dappled sunlight her gift.
The lesson that we must learn now:
It was never ME, it has always been WE.
Each creature,
big as the possum,
small as an ant -
coexisting among themselves.
Each fitting like a puzzle piece
into the sycamore’s grooves and limbs.
They are owed their lost dwelling.
It was not ours to take."
Watercolor + Colored Pencil on Sycamore Wood
8” Diameter
2021