Bosque de Pacho/The Forest of Pacho, José María Velasco
These woods, like mountains do, keep
legends alive. Skein of greens flecked
with ochre and brown permit my eye
to part leaf from bark, soil from grass.
Even without a fixed horizon, I orient
myself in this Eden: dense foliage
yet untrampled. The painting’s
label describes, so frames the scene
as claustrophobic. But I disagree
with who directs us see the rampant
world as oppressive. Redolent memory—
forest humid with insect, tree frog
and bird call, chorus of wind
and night coming on—you return me.
Shara McCallum
From Jamaica, of Jamaican and Venezuelan parentage, Shara McCallum is the author of seven books published in the US & UK, most recently Behold. Appointed a 2026-27 Cheney Creative Fellow at the University of Leeds, McCallum is an Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English at Penn State University.