Four Skinny Trees
"They are the only ones who understand me. I am the only one who
understands them. Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like
mine. Four who do not belong here but are here. Four raggedy excuses planted
by the city. From our room we can hear them, but Nenny just sleeps and doesn’t
appreciate these things.
Their strength is their secret. They send ferocious roots beneath the
ground. They grow up and they grow down and grab the earth between their
hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger. This is
how they keep.
Let one forget his reason for being, they’d all droop like tulips in a glass,
each with their arms around the other. Keep, keep, keep, trees say when I sleep.
They teach.
When I am too sad and too skinny to keep keeping, when I am a tiny thing
against so many bricks, then it is I look at trees. When there is nothing left to
look at on this street. Four who grew despite concrete. Four who reach and do
not forget to reach. Four whose only reason is to be and be."
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