Alan Britt

We wander as lemon shadows
past the holly’s jade pearls
& below a spruce’s waxy needles’
thick feathers
Pine sweat rises
from naked woodchips
Blue obelisk’s filthy ivory
letters resemble melaleuca
peeling edges
Dogwood’s chameleon skin,
pear-shaped leaves backlit
to reveal veins on a newborn’s skull
At my touch beech tree’s elephant
trunk flows blood
through its medusa limbs
Baby mantis’ one inch twig body
with four silk hind legs
& two spider strand front legs
bent at the elbows

Oak roots flow like octopi—
squirrel perched upside down,
tail flat against giant oak,
jaw jutted beneath whiskers,
ears shaped like clover petals,
upper body curled like a question
against the glutted afternoon,
eyes of espresso beans