Tree of Climb

Easier to find
climbable trees
among old live oaks
and grand magnolias

balance-beam limbs
extended far beyond
inviting a walk-up
in acrobatic style

ladder-like branches
simpler to scramble
beneath shaded green
of thick, shiny leaves

joyous enterprise
at increasing heights
seeking communion
with the kingdom of sky.

"These Gardens are Entrusted to the Courtesy of the Visitors" (engraved on stone at entrance to Brookgreen Gardens near Pawley's Island, SC)

No explicit forbidding
of touching
smelling
picking
walking
in the gardens

or rubbing
clambering up
nearby sculptures
or trying to climb
outstretched live oaks
draped in gray

no hostile prohibition
of picnicking
wine-drinking
jogging
hopscotching
on grassy premises

just polite entreaty
for shared stewardship.

Southern Ghosts

From roadside view
wisteria-enshrouded shack
barely standing witness
to a hard-scrabble past

        but rich
        in unspoiled places
        pieces of the sacred
        attached to the soul

        yet unharmonious
        among human denizens
        riven in opposing groups
        privileged white and second-class black

in silent reprise
flower-smothered ruin
haunting vestige of back-when
its beauty and its brutishness.