Winter went too far that year
like a friend who shows her ugly side,
as heedless as some smartphone fuck in a bookstore
as numb and hard as a cop's baton.
Southern beauty, transplanted lady
brought here as a baby,
my English walnut tree was shivered--shocked--
a dazed involuntary wandering the halls of summer for years after.
This year, unfed, the bandit squirrels stopped knocking down
her new growth bouquets.
This year her gown is lush, her branches heavy with baubles,
the first walnuts in five years.
I love to sit beneath her, bathed in green
and the susurration of her clustered feathers.
No silent era star wearing ostrich plumes
could compete with her now--she preens in the pleasant weather.
This spring, she is an Impressionist lady
holding a parasol over me as I am shivered--shocked--
by my country showing her ugly side
my sanctuary soft and sweet, the future hard as a cop's baton.
for Dverse--"A View of One's Own" hosted by Dora.
The images are taken by me, of the walnut tree in my yard.
Music: Glee cast Don't Make Me Over