The Banyan Review: John Hansen

Bio: 
John Hansen received a BA in English from the University of Iowa and an MA in English Literature from Oklahoma State University. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Summerset Review, Trouvaille Review, 50-Word Stories, One Sentence Poems, The Dillydoun Review, Schuylkill Valley Journal, Eunoia Review, Oddball Magazine, Litro Magazine, Amethyst Review, Wild Roof Journal, Drunk Monkeys, and elsewhere. He is English Faculty at Mohave Community College in Arizona. Read more at johnphansen.com.

Aspen Grove

The sun sips dewfrom the grass,roots left tender,damp, supple.
Below BurlingtonMaples &	tossedconiferous rows,we walkacrossAspen Grove.
Wind teeth	bite throughthe breasts of cloudswhile hydrangeasstir.
Obliging morn –replete with thoughtsand meaning:such as dayand night – your attention dividingbetween them.
To know is sediment	sinking inyour mindas a new thoughtrisesbut caughtby fine branchesof birch trees,ebbing,only to fall by the willow’s uncoiled streamers.
To be is to speakwith the shadowsof oak leaves	slouchingdownthe hill past the empty fieldwhich swells –stones glint in light and flake like barkfrom a rotting trunk.
You say, the trees,this day	stir and bloom,timbers entwineand hold us
unmoved bynow.

John Hansen

Aspen Grove

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