| Phillip's Portrait Brown walls close in a space of green. Defying them in the center Grows a tall slender purple plum tree In sharp color contrast to the background. A tall slender boy with flowing hair of fire Dances wildly in front of the tree dripping with fruit. His toes are purple from squishing the rotting plums beneath the tree Only narrowly missing the buzz sting of bees hovering low In the sticky sweet air. Oaks and cypress and a single pecan tree Crowd the outside trying to reach the plum, Amazed at its fruit laden limbs, And the boy's wild antics So different from their shallow roots and impotent nuts That force them to remain stock still solid To appear strong. Except for the cypress, that is, Who simply cry for his help With an invitation to solace If he could stop the bulldozers with his dance. © 1997 wendi loomis "Reflection in Fragments" |