A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse: Poetry and Fine Art

by Allison Moore Giles

A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse, by Allison Giles, pastel and charcoal

A SHOOT FROM THE STUMP OF JESSE

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” —Isaiah 11:1

From a cathedral height above the canopy,

leaf tips that flickered in a symphony

of wind and shafts of light

from lightning fell.

A hundred years of growth

severed in a breath.

The whole woods hears the crack,

the wrenching of cambium and

sapwood from the core—

its inner workings

that long sustained,

carrying silently its lifeblood

from roots to leafy heights

now severed,

laid open,

its silhouette against the sky

a jagged shard,

while its heart, its frame, its leafy crown

comes crashing now

against the forest floor.

But through the years

a tiny shoot,

setting down roots

in lifeless stump,

tiptoes silently

toward the sun,

new life breaking forth

from all that is

broken, dying, dead.

And as I wait, bowed down

in silent clearing,

you begin

to set down your roots

in me.

Catalpa, by Allison Giles, pastel and charcoal

CATALPA

The winter twig of the catalpa shows

its sudden losses to the sky.

The leaves fall in chorus at first frost,

and in their places,

scars—in whorled groups of three—

mar its length.

I run my fingers along their gnarled edges

and wait.

You came into the room where I hid,

this garden place,

where once we walked,

and pulled out my buried belief

from your nail scarred hands and

your pierced side.

You, the Firstfruits from the grave,

who pulls out life from death

and blooms from the catalpa branch—

their green tips unfurling,

heralding

a branch now

heavily laden with

trumpet blossoms, purple-stripe-lined,

bending and swaying—

the bees in

quadrille on their yellow tips.

ALLISON MOORE GILES

Allison is a Christ follower, artist, and poet currently scribing from Indiana. She, her husband, and their three children serve as missionaries, and their hearts remain with a small community near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where they made their home for seven years. Allison is passionate about sharing the Gospel through art. She enjoys worship, dance, art, and writing that declares the glory of God. She and her family are relocating to Nairobi, Kenya, where they will offer technical training as a means of discipleship, providing a way to make a living to nationals and the Ethiopian diaspora. Allison’s writings have appeared in The Clayjar Review. 

Substack @allisonmooregiles