“A Tree or An Aloe Vera” We Write Poems #94-Ode to a Tree

Green moss sleeps over
brick as avocados weep
pear-shaped beads
hammered on high branches

I rest on my knees, earth seeping
through fingertips, untangling weeds
as sow bugs scatter, armored,
resilient, archaic, scurrying on

a marrow of stories
encircling the owner of
a local taco stand; an untimely
death, a shattered leaf on mirrors

Seven years, separate dirt
falling away in breezes, rich
dark black; not burnt sienna,
warm in the earth, pliable,
easy to manipulate

This area is thick, glazed —
black gothic shades
on octagon windows
piercing exteriors of thunder
storms; saffron flowers burrow
a mosaic vase of spidery veins
in morceau of oxygen’s release