Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"The Spring Ephemerals" by David Baker is a poignant meditation on the interplay between human life, nature's transient beauty, and the relentless march of development. Through the careful depiction of a woman's efforts to rescue spring ephemerals from impending destruction, Baker explores themes of resilience, survival, and the preciousness of life in all its forms.

The poem begins with the woman's return from an early morning foray into a lot soon to be razed by developers. Her dedication to preserving the fleeting beauty of spring ephemerals—plants that bloom briefly before the canopy fills in—is evident in her collection of "wild phlox in pink-running-to-blue, rue anemone, masses / of colt's foot, wild ginger, blood root and may-apples, bracken and fiddlehead fern." These plants, symbols of the fragile and the fleeting, are at risk not just from the natural cycle but from human encroachment, a theme that underpins the poem.

The speaker's intimate history with the woman, hinted at through the memory of holding her "in a snow cover of sheets" during a storm, introduces a personal dimension to the narrative. The mention of her surgery—"doctors had sliced the sick cells / and cauterized her skin for safety's sake"—parallels the destruction of the land with the violence done to her body in the name of healing. This connection between the body and the land deepens the poem's exploration of survival and healing, emphasizing the resilience required to face both illness and environmental degradation.

Baker's portrayal of the woman's physical appearance, "spotted by briars, bubbles of blood / daubed in brown," with "burrs in her red hair" and "Both sleeves are torn," underscores her commitment to her cause. Her disheveled state is a testament to her struggle against the forces that threaten the natural world she cherishes. The sunlight cutting "through pine needles above us, casting a grid like the plats the surveyors use" serves as a powerful image of nature's beauty being dissected and parceled out by human design.

The poem's critique of development and greed is encapsulated in the lines, "It's the irony of every cell: that it divides to multiply. / This way the greedy have bought up the land / behind ours to parcel for resale at fifty-fold what they paid weeks ago." Here, Baker draws a stark contrast between the natural process of cellular division, which is essential for life, and the exploitative division of land for profit, which destroys life.

As the woman and the speaker transplant the saved plants along the path to their creek, there is a sense of urgency and defiance against the impending destruction. The detailed map the woman has drawn, marking the original locations of each plant, symbolizes her deep connection to the land and her determination to preserve its memory.

The poem concludes with the woman handing the speaker a cluster of drooping trillium roots, a rare plant that epitomizes the poem's themes of delicacy and survival. The image of the plant "hanging like a red bell safe from the sun" and bending "not in grief, not prayer" encapsulates the resilience and beauty of the natural world, even in the face of destruction. Baker's "The Spring Ephemerals" is a powerful reminder of the fragility of life, the importance of conservation, and the enduring strength found in the act of caring for the natural world.

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