The Secret Life of Trees


from the ABC set Cave of the Storm Nymphs

The train paused and crept
past invisible monkeys
leaping from tree top to tree top
the trees
winterstick canopies bent
waving like fronds
in a tidal pond

The earths green skin leaked
fielding brown ooze
in silvered scratches and runnels
as if the water came up
from underneath
through quicksand
on a prehistoric bay

under the trees
lie dinosaur bones
Saxon hoards
Tudor buttons,
Victorian boot hooks
and bombs dropped from Heinkels

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