Old Firs

I often eat lunch in Awbrey Park beside four crowded fir trees
leaning this way and that, as if not on speaking terms. These trees

are tall and weathered with brindled bark and the same wrinkled
scowls that line the hallways of old-folks homes. They’ve earned

the right to appear irritated by the fat gray squirrel fidgeting
along the arborvitae hedge. I imagine them wincing, remembering

all those generations of squirrels before him. I imagine them pursing
their lips, wondering how many more they will live to see. A crow flaps

from within their prickly branches; the wind blows. We five shiver
together as I stand, unstiffen, remind myself that they are only old firs.

 

About the Poet:
Danny Earl Simmons is an Oregonian and a proud graduate of Corvallis High School. He is a friend of the Linn-Benton Community College Poetry Club and currently serves on its Poetry Advisory Committee. His poems have appeared in a variety of journals such as The Pedestal Magazine, Little Patuxent Review, IthacaLit, San Pedro River Review, and Off the Coast where he now assists as a member of the editorial staff.

 

Poetry Breakfast accepts submissions of poetry and poetry related creative non-fiction year-round.  See our Submission Guidelines page for details on submitting your work.

 

Photo by Francais.