ann malaspina
Magnolia
Just four-foot tall,
a sapling
trunk,
two dozen
leaves,
for you
i murder lanternflies,
pull weeds,
pour mulch
& water –
and when storms come,
I brace you
to right the wrongs
of those
that fell
when paradise
was paved
(the pear tree
in the garden,
the shady oak,
the fig tree
of the refugees,
the crabapple
we climbed).
paradise is gone,
but you live
on,
in the corner
of my day
to day,
ascending.
every inch
you grow,
a victory.