PORTRAIT OF A LEAFLESS TREE

by Joanna Gilman Hyde

The Hawk Kitchen Outpost 6:29pm

Our Back Yard houses

one lichen-covered Scraggly Apple

looking like a swath of coral

showing off any bird

deciding to perch there

by the deck

and beyond the kitchen

sliding glass door

from which I gaze

out to Our One-tree Yard —

source of My Undying Affection