I love organic foods and I like to read about diets and healthy lifestyles, especially after finding out that I have food allergies. I saw an article in one of the health magazines about eating trees, and I started thinking about the idea of literally eating a tree. I imagined going into the woods, picking a fine tree, chopping it down and trying to eat it. The idea seemed funny to me, so I started reading the article. As I read, I noticed that the article was giving real advice about how to harvest different parts of trees, how to prepare and store them, and how to incorporate them into meals.

I love nature, I find it inspiring. Nature is present in a lot of my poems, and I wanted to write something about eating trees. When I started writing this poem, I wasn’t sure where it was going to take me. Most of my writing unfolds in front of me, like a story coming alive, with its own characters. When I looked at my first draft, I couldn’t stop laughing. I could see clearly how the story formed in my head. My dad’s favorite jokes are about mothers–in–law and how to get rid of them. And so this story took me on a journey of potentially killing a mother–in–law. My dad would be so proud.