January 2025
Bio Note: I am working on a collection of poems from my childhood to leave as a legacy to family, friends, and a wider audience. I have published two books; a chapbook of poetry about our family’s journey with a transgender daughter, and another, my brother’s letters from the Vietnam War that include my poetry in response. I enjoy all things outdoors in nature, especially during kayak season where I often write poems (on my phone) while paddling Wisconsin lakes.
Where Maples Grew
Two dozen, fifty-year-old,
heavy-bosomed maple trees
shaded my childhood home,
heaping coolness across our yard.
The leafy giants lined Kent Street
with their arc of shelter and shade.
Each maple grew taller, thicker with age
big enough to hide behind for
Red Light, Green Light on a summer night.
In autumn they draped yellow light over us
before dropping heaps of leaves for jumping.
Under a plot of progress with rising traffic,
a widened street was planned,
the trees slated to go –
my enraged mother gathered signatures
spoke out at city hall, wrote letters
to the editor: Save our half-centenarians!
Sadly, the city architects of progress won.
Father, with his movie camera,
filmed that day when bulldozers arrived
to yank out each maple like a giant tooth,
huge roots exposed, lying on their sides,
our mouths gaping at the extraction.
Rugosa Rose
grew tall and full
cornered outside my brother’s bedroom window.
That rose bush grew as unruly as us kids
who ran free on summer days.
Coiled behind this gangly shrub,
we tugged the green garden hose out to the yard.
One of us squeezed behind those dense prickers
cranked the faucet wide open.
Thorns caught a shirt, snagged the skin,
a gash of blood trickled down an arm,
soon red-crusted by the sun.
Water on full blast, the hose gushed into our mouths,
a faint taste of rubber with the aroma of rose.
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to say what it is about the poem you like. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -JL