Forest Trees

[a poem Virginia inspired]

you cannot from outside
tell me what to emphasize

I live here
you are only passing by
going by- driving by

your perspective and mine
are not one and the same

I decide if and when to weed my yard
when to mow my lawn
when to cut down trees

not easy financially
the fight with the forest advancing
reclaiming

not easy to without end, reverse it
not easy at all to turn it back

such an abundance of things
springing up, growing as swiftly
as I can cut them down
or have them cut down

growth as wild as the hair on my head
as the hair on my chin
requiring me often to visit the barber

I can use a gardener, full time
to discipline what is unruly,
growing wild, embarrassing me

people, thinking my property
unoccupied, come into my yard,
among the trees, to pee

at times some come
to move their bowels

when I am too long away
when they are able
to have their way


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2012
11:20 a.m. 06.05.12