From rain_luong

[jakebe]

Story of the Genius of Failure by Charles Rafferty

One day a man feels himself
pursued by all that he loves
but cannot love well,

so he steps into the forest
behind his house
to become a blackjack oak.

He feels the sap
push up through his legs.
His arms stiffen

and rise above his head
like an explosion
of green surrender.

From where he is rooted,
the man can see his wife
in the windows of their home,

making the bed,
tucking in the children,
and, finally, checking the clock.

And though the man's body
thickens with rings
and his ankles fuse and plummet

toward the bedrock and better water,
and though he has evaded
the bloodhounds and the men

who will dredge the river
behind their property, the man
knows this is a failure

in a list of many failures.
This time, he has failed so well
he has become

the genius of failure,
growing each year
till the yard is shadowed

by weak and dangerous limbs.