Poetry from a fallen tree

Though "The Etymology of Spruce" is Joyce Wilson's first book, it follows years of poems published in distinguished literary journals. The longtime Scituate resident also teaches English at Suffolk University, edits the online Poetry Porch, and is a former managing editor and regular contributor to Harvard Review.

Wilson will read from her book at 3 p.m. this Sunday at Buttonwood Books & Toys in Cohasset. She spoke recently with The Globe about one of the book's poems, ''Spruce Down," and her approach to poetry.

The vertical form hewn
at the base to a point like a pencil
fell horizontal to rest on stiff legs
like a cannon in firing position
or like a giant centipede, rigor mortis,
the bark chitinous like a mollusk,
the sectioned log worth at least a cord,
kindling, mulch, compost.

With our talk we sorted through the refuse
the way the tree had once
sifted sunlight, playing,
dispersing the emptiness.

''The idea for the poem came a long time ago from a spruce tree in our yard. We had to have it cut down because it was inflicted with spores, so we asked an arborist to do it and we would do the cleanup.

He cut it down while we were away, and when we pulled into our driveway, it was lying on its side. It looked so horrible to see a tree downed that way, that it really struck me, and so I wrote the poem.

‘Etymology of Spruce’ began mostly as free verse poems, but they all do have a formal structure and are fairly close to iambic. But when you’re not writing in strict pentameter or tetrameter, it’s very challenging to know where to break a line.

Some poems begin at the upper left and go without a break all the way down to the lower right. But if you’re not going to do that, a lot of considerations come into play -- where to put the punctuation, how much punctuation, is the last word on the line the most important, is that the one you want to bring the most attention to. It’s a lot more to think about.

I tend to write a first draft rather quickly, then I look at the elements and try to determine how I can formalize it. Most of my poems go through six to eight drafts. With this book, I felt I was finished 10 years ago, but I went back and did a lot of work on the poems after that.

I always read my poems aloud to myself. I read them aloud to others. Sound is a primary consideration. I sing and play the guitar, and I feel music plays a big part in what I like about poetry.

Sometimes I have to tone down the musical aspect. I can get carried away with the sing-songiness or with the dramatics of the rhythm. That can also happen when you write rhyme; you start to write rhyme and it’s very hard to stop.''

Joyce Wilson can be heard reciting poetry and singing at Poetry Porch.