Also Mutants

Trees Are Selfish

7-19-17

I must be a different breed of arborist.
I spent twenty years
roamin' through this forest
in search of some daylight
but all I got was the occasional breeze
whisperin' to me to leave.
Nobody says "Make like a tree
and stay!", even if that's
all they ever do. They don't move.
They don't go anywhere. They just
drop their seed and it grows up...
no convincing it to go
to college, or get a job. And
definitely no parenting involved
at all. Meanwhile, I'm trying hard
to do the one thing it does
so well- leave!- and I keep
circling around the same stumps
and mangled spaghetti branches
with no end in sight. It's as if
they want to keep me here,
but are afraid to tell me.
Is it them, or is it me? I almost
can't tell. I'm not drawn to them,
I think, like they are to me...
I was their calling. I was the difference
between studying and stalking.
Now all I see is wood
everywhere. Is it them? Or
is it me?