Offered for Tweetspeak Poetry’s June theme: Trees. With apologies to Ezekiel 17:22-24.
Why the good Lord would put cedar in the holy Bible
is beyond me. I mean, cedar!
He went and called it “noble.”
Please, spare me!
Aspens are noble. Maples are noble. Cypress
trees with their toes stuck in a river are noble.
The live oak tree that shades my whole front lawn
is noble.
Cedar sucks up every speck of water, stealing
from the trees that play fair. Cedar spills golden dust
from Christmas to Valentine’s Day, making everyone
sick at the most wonderful time of the year.
I think it’s just plain ugly, although it’s not too bad
for a fence post.
I hear the old ones are better than grass for drainage,
which would be a fine thing if it ever rained.
Ezekiel must have been talking about a different cedar.
Or maybe when this spinning top slows
when fire and hail and locusts have take out my pecan
tree, my elm, my crepe myrtle,
maybe that dang cedar is all that will be left.
Maybe birds will finally nest in its branches. Maybe
I’ll sit down and rest under that indecent shade.
