Bald Cypress Renga
Bald
cypress leaves, red
Embroidered
coverlet
Over
the cold earth
Pull
the covers down, old man
We
can all see your pale knees!
Bald
old men
Embroidering
their stories
To
make children smile
“Sit
upon a cypress knee
Let
me tell you what I see”
Easter
egg hunt
Child
reaches for an egg
But
it’s a cypress knee!
The
child’s disappointment
Sorry,
there’s no prize inside!
Weave
the fallen leaves
To
cradle a cypress seed
And
grow another tree
Trunk
becomes a tower
And
a mountain range of knees
I
have seen these things
Gazing
at the cypress tree
Old
fool lost in thought
Of
the cypress I have said
More than you ever asked for!
Beautyberry Renga
Beautyberry
bush
Bracelets
on slender wrists
Amid
bright green leaves
Swaying
to an unheard tune
May
I celebrate with you?
Such
colorful costumes
Long
stalks dangle purple fruit
Oh
parade riders
Throw
me somethin', mista!
Wind
lifts the stalk for the toss
Mista,
I missed it
Purple
beads caught in the tree
Looped
around a branch
Tantalizing
purple bunch
I
can't reach with a ladder
Just
out of reach!
King
of Mardi Gras I beg you
Make
the berries fall!
His
scepter taps the branch
And
blooms with beautyberries
Fluttering
costumes
Dionysian
blooms
Up
every lamp post
Clusters
so thick and heavy
Wrought iron balconies groan
Crepe Myrtle Renga
Small
crepe myrtle grove
Frame
of a house to be built
Pale
exposed lumber
The
bark lice are hard at work
Wrapping
the house in webbing
So
many workers
Commute
up and down the trunk
It’s
a traffic jam!
Bark
lice, aphids, and spiders
Travel
the pale smooth highway
When
I hear the wind
Blow
through crepe myrtle limbs
I
dream of churches
Whoosh
of swinging censer
The
creak of old wooden pews
My
friend doesn’t get it
He
thinks the trees are ugly
And
dares to mock them:
“Oh
hairless cat of a tree
Lifting
up your scrawny legs!”
I’ll
let him be wrong
Because
he still walks with me
When
I pick this grove
Bypassing
cypress and oak
In
the botanical garden
Zachary McGar is a librarian in Baton Rouge and a member of the Poetry Society of Louisiana. His poems have appeared in Eternal Haunted Summer and The Classical Outlook.
