What the Jehovah's Witness Said [part II]

Christina Pacosz

    "Tolerant of crowded dusty cities and smoky factory
    districts, often even growing out of cracks in concrete."
    The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees,
    Eastern Region, Knopf, 1987
    "I hate that tree," meaning the ailanthus
    at her curb, the poor peoples' tree,
    the tree of heaven,
    the Tree Grows in Brooklyn tree
    planted by no one but
    growing everywhere.
    She ignores all my blandishments.
    Food all winter for: sparrows, blue jays, finches,
    cardinals, mourning doves, wrens, chickadees and squirrels
    foraging diligently in the ivy twined around
    the tree's double trunks and the snow deep on the ground.
    Sustenance all spring and summer, too,
    from its musty yellow bloom
    gone to seed.
    This tree of life the focus of her enmity.
    A green carnival in any season for me,
    a woman sitting in a reclining chair on a heating pad – my daily bread –
    unable to go anywhere
    except as a witness
    to this feast on disturbed earth.

    

Christina Pacosz - Christina Pacosz has been writing and publishing prose and poetry for nearly half a century and has several books of poetry. Born and raised in Detroit, she has lived on both U.S. coasts, New York City, Alaska and southern Appalachia. For the past ten years she has been teaching urban Kansas City youth both sides of the state line; she and her husband of twenty years call Kansas City home. Tags: Thanal Online, web magazine dedicated for poetry and literature Christina Pacosz, What the Jehovah's Witness Said [part II]
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