Raising the Pine
The welwitschia mirabilis
lives, knotted, for thousands of years
out in the African sun. Its two leaves
become a tangled mass of time
as they grow outward.
O Namibia. O octopus tree.
O dead things.
When the botanist came to our own tree
he prescribed infusions of iron.
It stayed sick that year, until its yellowing
turned. Or perhaps our hope saw it greening.
With one tree on an IV drip, someone
unlocked our gate, seeking a northwest tree
and finding none, approached the southeast yellow pine.
He savaged its boughs—its …
