Hi, Nick—
I read this as a meditation on time and our perception of it.
The maple has changed very little over the twenty years during which the N’s children grew up, and represents the cyclic/seasonal view of time in which everything happens again and again in an eternal now. The N presents a linear/progressive view of time in which one is always in motion from past to future and can never grasp the present now. I read the shadows as the memories that the N thinks of as his life. They are meaningless to the maple but of supreme importance to the N.
I like the simple structure and clear, direct language. I wondered about “iridescent” and wasn’t sure what to make of the burning lawn, but otherwise felt well guided through the poem.
Glenn
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