limbs askew, spine snapped, the small green tree
sprawls in faded solitude beneath a waning sun.

strands of wrinkled argent dangle, a listless silver shrine
hemming, shredded and fallen, the evergreen ganglia:
shoestring pendulums curving steps from memory to mind.

across the diamond-bladed field, bristling and white,
a fugitive breeze whispers to the gaudy plastic.

flanked by scattered armies of jade
ruminations and spent munitions,
the bitter taste of sweet
yam and flightless bird,

khaki needles lie
flat, unmoving:
familial victims
of a nuclear fallout.

memory is a
stained sheet
puddling over
the unlit face
of Christmas.

12/09/2008

Posted on 12/09/2008
Copyright © 2025 D. James McKee