‘What the trees do’ by Laura Scott – Resurgence Prize, Highly Commended

They play with us
they want to be us
they once were us

a long time ago
one of them
caught the heel of a girl

in the crook of its branch,
snagged it like a bird
caught in a bush

flicked her
up into its leaves.
She cried and the birds

scattered so no-one heard
and the tree pushed her
higher and higher

up to where its branches
scratched the sky
and the wind blew her

hair into the leaves,
up to where the tree
thrummed under her

and the birds’ throats
quivered next to her and her ribs
opened and softened

and their tips pushed
through her skin into the bark
and the tree grew around her .

And sometimes you hear her
tapping her fingers
against your window.

They play with us
they want to be us
they once were us.