The Ongoing Poem Series About the Summer of 2006 Continues

July 11, 2006
On the way to work this morning I saw a dead tree

One of two rather sad little twisted odd trees
that occupy the median outside the creepy tanning parlor

I’ve noticed them many times before
for their strange tall spiraling trunks
with just a little tuft of branches on top

but this time one of them had a smattering of fresh green leaves
while the other one was very dead and frizzled

In fact it looked like it even might have been set on fire
with the remnants of tattered black leaves clinging on
and the branches themselves sort of blackened

But it’s hard to say for sure that it was burnt
it might have been just really dead

Impossible also to say how long it had been that way
maybe someone torched it over the weekend
but maybe it’s been dead or dying for ages up there above my eye level


image source is here