***
Of the six
trees-to-humans,
none of them
looked the same age.
One had gray hair and wrinkled skin a lot like bark.
One looked only a few years old, with chubby cheeks and a protruding belly.
One looked like both, with wrinkled chubby cheeks and a bark belly.
Not a one had the same skin color,
even though they all went for greens and grays like their tree trunks, roots and leaves.
Four of them
didn’t even have a single consistent skin tone.
And really
it should’ve occurred to me
when I handed out
“basic knowledge of humanity”
–like, humans wanna be social
and they’ve got hands and eyes and stomachs–
that they’d get some part of it wack.
But give me a break,
I’d just come from the Realm of Green Dragons,
everybody’s green there
and in The City
everybody sorta blended into hues of orange or copper or brown
so I forgot
(until the trees did what they did)
humans made such a huge fuss about what they looked like
that it shaped their whole history,
and as for sex
none of the trees
turned recognizably female or male
since beech trees
are both
so their understanding of sex
lacked division;
their human genitals
had shapes I’d never seen before,
even in encyclopedias of far-flung realms,
and as for their hair
it looked like feathers
coming out their ears
and as for intelligence, it varied,
and as for their culture? Well.
What language was I supposed to teach them
and could it cast spells,
which clothes did I give them
and would they fit well,
who among them did I make more responsible for birth
and child raising
or did I make children
independent,
who among them did I make wider
wily
wiser in any number of ways,
better
at innovation
versus keeping the system the same,
which ones did I teach about
running companies
versus
coping with sickening coal mines
just to have money for a roof,
who did I sentence to the streets
versus
the skyhigh penthouse rooms–
who did I give dreams to?
Hopes to?
Love to?
Did I give them all walking bodies
or stick some in wheelchairs
or all on crutches;
who did I give phobias to
and if I didn’t give anyone any
would anyone feel fear
and who did I make a good crier
versus tell to quit crying
cuz it’s embarrassing and weak
and who did I make violent
versus
quiet
versus
both
and who did I give the right to conquer
and who did I give the benefit of blindness to those below them
and who did I give rage to
if not the powerless
and who did I let turn the tables
so they could rise
and wield their anger
on the once-rulers
and who did I say
wasn’t allowed to win
but would fight
and keep losing
beneath the table
and who did I let
worship me,
the creator
of contropism
and cycles
of chaos
and who did I let
approach me
to ask why I made them
and who did I tell
the truth to?
(The answer, tree child,
is I did it
because I wanted you
to beg me
to save you.)
Jordyn Saelor 