They aren’t trees.

They’re vines

and don’t you forget it.

Over decades they green and die

pulling down god knows

how many fence panels,

biting gardeners with their vicious teeth

for which no one’s truly prepared

and showing forth voluptuous berries

that might be poisonous but who cares,

and all that death and regrowth

seeming to happen at once

so intertwined that you can only

stand, caught, and marvel at

the way they brought you here.

February 23 2024