Orange

There Remains Much Truth 

I’ve written before that

Elm Avenue in Wisconsin

no longer has elm trees,

only the brittle twigs 

of our memories,

much like, I suppose,

Orange Tree Estates, 

Orange County, CA

has no orange trees,

only the faintly remembered 

aromas from youth,

the sweet citrus dreams 

of SoCal hipsters.

Many pines remain 

in Pine Top, AZ,

and you can still find birches 

in Birch Tree, AR,

but, for most of us,

we only have photo albums

to take us back to our roots.

The elms are gone

but the palms remain hearty.

Thank goodness there was no

Dutch Palm Tree malady,

although I’m pretty sure that

it wasn’t Dutch Orange Tree disease

that caused all those uprootings in SoCal.

If this global warming thing,

or some other planetary sickness

gets to the palm trees,

we’re in real trouble.

but that will be for

a different poet’s despair.