Clark Gormley #65 The Truth about Trees and Wires

the price of shade

in the front yard

is eternal vigilance

so we have to call in

the topiary warriors

the slashing green berets

armed with chainsaws

who sever away

with brutal precision

clearances documented

in the botanic verses

the rules of engagement

but these horticultural

mutilated monsters

grow another trunk from

their elevated stump

the result is grotesque

conjoined freaks of flora

two-forked leafy demons

that slowly mutate to form

huge flourishing eyes

they linger outside each

of our front doors, in columns

at attention, waiting

we must continue

the arboreal butchery

if we let them grow

we lose our power