For Memorial Day, 2009

The sun has left the memory of its new born strength
in the dark air that blows boughs
caught all around a streetlight's aural glow
stirring the shadows below, how the night lengthens
the lines that leaves make

i take a trunk in my two hands, raise
my head to the flowing sky, all around me the spirits fly
tree-crown sends its own wild cry and my hair
could stand electrified, my hair could flow

like when, hanging dog-like out my window
it blew around my head as I crossed ford parkway bridge heading home
the open river sending chill blasts of wind up to shake me
down
it shook me down to tears, like your memory with new born strength
taking me in it's bony arms, holding me to its wind-whistled no-thing ribs.