Ann E. Michael

About Place Journal, Volume II Issue I
Trees

28th Street Threnody

Nothing’s static. That’s understood,
yet foundations identify a neighborhood—
one-car garages, narrow driveways,
small, shaded lawns under overgrown trees,
the spread of pachysandra where
rabbits breed and burrow; lawn chairs,
clotheslines, swingsets reminders of when
the town was full of industry and children.
The old magnolia, glorious and dense,
spreads leather-strop leaves over the neighbor’s fence.
Summer closes. Squirrels natter and re-group
as city trees get their weak limbs lopped.
A young man stands beside an outgrown swing,
resenting rust and change. Mockingbird sings.

Ann E. Michael resides in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania. Her most recent collection of poetry is Water-Rites (Brick Road Poetry Press). For more information, see her website: www.annemichael.com.