{"sf1_id":956839,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Towers","author":"Keskron","words":296,"posted_at":"2016-01-21T15:39:00.000Z","tags":["Clean","Climb","Poem","Poetry","Roots","Sestina","Towers","animal","branch","maple","nest","reach","refuge","trees"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/956839-towers","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/956839","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=956839\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"This is a Sestina, a form of poetry that repeats six words along six stanzas. It's a tricky form to write well, and I hope I did it justice. Though I'm usually not one for repetition in words, I enjoyed working on this poem because it allowed me to move outside my comfort zone of usual rhythm.\nI hope everyone who reads enjoys.","content":"# **Towers**\n\n**By Keskron**\n\nWhen discontent, I climb the towers  \nthat stand in my backyard. Despite the scratches  \nscattered 'mongst my arms and maple sap  \nseeping into my skin, I take refuge in the nests  \nof a thousand coniferous needles  \nspreading upward from their roots.  \n  \nMeddling down below, accompanied by roots  \nsneakily trying to trip me, I look to the towers  \nwith naïve envy. I itch and burn and scratch  \nfor a taste of being amidst their fleshy sap,  \nevery day enjoying the animals that nursed their nests  \nthroughout the intricate needles.  \n  \nCrawling like string through a needle,  \nI worm through the canopy, noting the roots  \ndown below from the eyes of my towering,  \nviridian fortress. Hearing the scratching  \nof squirrels on twigs beyond my reach, their nests  \nbuilt with glue of the ever-flowing sap.  \n  \nSometimes my palms caress the sap  \nwithout warning, as if they wished to root  \nthemselves within the mahogany nest  \nof the forest. I wish to build a great tower  \nof my own, to pursue the pine needles  \nwith the urge to scavenge and scratch  \n  \n\n\u0026nbsp; I am an animal, biting and scratching  \nand howling, searching for my roots  \nwithin this kingdom hidden in the towers.  \nI say to them, \"I long to be your sap.  \nI long to live in needless worry with your needles  \nas my forever nest.\"  \n  \nBut I hear from my perch - my nest -  \nan echo in the branches and thunder in the roots  \nof the giants giving birth to the needles  \nand slobbering over me with their sap.  \nPensively, I hear the scratching  \nVoices; I hear an answer from the towers:  \n  \n\"Here us speak, for we are the towers  \nOf your dreams. Love not the needles  \nThat you envy - find content in your roots.\"  \n  \n  \n\n"}