City Sidewalk Tree
David Brown
I am a city sidewalk tree
Once we were four now there’s only me
They laid new cables along the street
And choked the roots of the other three
I am a city sidewalk tree
A living island in a concrete sea
A remnant of rural history
A single lung that fights to breathe
In springtime I take in crows
Every year the nest site grows
They know things no one knows
I feel them talking through their toes
Every autumn I watch my seed
Fall with the dog ends on the street
Never finding the earth they need
My children dying at my feet
Last summer a lady tacked to my back
A reward notice for her missing cat
For a week up here Tom sat
Till the fireman took him back
All the dogs they know my bark
I’m their poop and perfume park
At night the drunks all leave their mark
Emptying organs in the dark
I’m always getting hit by cars
Skodas, Fiats, Jaguars
4-wheel drives with cow-catch bars
They get fixed - I just get scars
My branches darken the run-down house
These days she hardly ever comes out
Ten years ago she lost her spouse
Only memories visit now
|
