Listen to the world’s best poetry read out loud.
Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2025: Tree Planting
by Yogesh Patel
Poetry Archive Now Wordview 2025: Tree Planting
for all uprooted by turning dunes
Don’t expect the desert to shed tears—
it has forgotten how.
They dragged a woman
through its heat—
blood dried,
carving furrows
with her lost weight.
Bone quills furiously at work.
But the desert,
ever-young,
wears no wrinkles of memory.
Even the footprints
left by gods—ironed out,
not allowing Him
callous calm.
Every mark belongs to wind.
W. S. Merwin once wished
to plant a tree
on the last day of the world.
The woman wondered—
do trees still take root
when the last seeds
are bullets?
Only remaining blood
maps a dry watercourse
where she lay—
violated, abandoned,
a sermon in sandstorms
to the scorpions—
followers of the desert,
watched by cactus-placards
too brittle to speak.
Still, beneath the sand,
somewhere,
a seed dreams—
not of rain,
but for the hush
of Merwin’s tree.
A special thank you to our WordView 2025 poets.
Hear from some our winners this year on what the Archive and winning has meant to them:
"I feel deeply grateful to be taking part in the chorus of voices honoured by PAN Worldwide 2025. Leonard Cohen famously sang that “every heart to love will come, but like a refugee.” For me, the same might be said of poetry. I came to the writing of it late, and thank The Poetry Archive for providing the encouragement to continue being brave in sharing it." - Michelle Robin Visser.
"I think it shows the importance of live spoken word to share poetry as equally as the printed word for some audiences." - Steve Harrison.
"Being part of the PAN Worldwide 2025 collection alongside 17 incredible poets from across the globe is both an honour and a reminder of the unifying power of poetry. Moving forward, I think this experience will stay with me, it has encouraged me to continue writing with honesty and openness, and to remember that my voice is part of something much larger than myself." - Panya Banjoko.
See the collectionWatch the full Wordview 2025 playlist