The Poetic City: “Lucky Me 4/7/18”

The oaks we love (photo: Wiki Media Commons)

“Lucky Me 8/14/15” 

On this fine April day

I took a walk down Palmer Ave

never intending to go 

all the way from Willow to St Charles

But I couldn’t help myself. 

First it was the entanglement 

of the oak arbor that snared me. 

The abrupt twists and turns of

every branch from trunk to 

tip transformed each tree 

into an inscrutable mystery. 

The rough bark of each limb was made

soft by a sleeve of resurrection fern

brought back to life by the recent rain. 

When the sun broke through the cloud cover

the oak leaves captured the light and 

dissolved it into a thousand shades of green…

As shadows danced along the 

surface of the tarmac, roadside 

puddles became reflecting pools. 

Then the sounds of the morning took over… 

bird song, whoosh of cars, and the whine of 

tree cutters were all capped by the whistle 

of a distant freight.

Even the plastic bottles carelessly left 

in the gutter took on the innocence of 

cosmic debris.

By the time I reached St Charles, 

I was a goner. 

Nothing seemed out of place…

Everything seemed to be 

just as it was supposed to be. 

And, lucky me… 

I was only halfway home.