“The Ferns” by Gene Baro

I recently found a poem in a children’s anthology that I want to share.

The Ferns

by Gene Baro

High, high in the branches
the seawinds plunge and roar.
A storm is moving westward,
but here on the forest floor
the ferns have captured stillness.
A green sea growth they are.

The ferns lie underwater
in a light of the forest’s green.
Their motion is like stillness,
as if water shifts between
and a great storm quivers
through fathoms of green.

This poem is rich with beautiful description. Can you imagine the still ferns on the forest floor, barely moving, as if they are deep in the ocean? It matters not what happens above the surface of the ocean, or the treetops, because the fathoms below are unmoved.

I taught this poem to my third grade class today, and they loved it. We closed our eyes and imagined the ferns, their movements so slight as to be almost imperceptible. We imagined walking amongst the ferns on the forest floor, and looking up towards the treetops. We imagined being among the “green sea growth” on the ocean floor, too, looking up through the quivering water. My students smiled with closed eyes as we talked about the details we imagined, and we even put our arms in the air to mimic the “motion like stillness” on the forest floor.

I can’t wait to hear them recite this one once they memorize it.