Maple Memoire

for Lisa Nguyen Sutton

Mature maples

line both sides

of 21st avenue.

Beneath rustling leaves

we pencil hash marks

in pocket notebooks,

tallying broken limbs,

scrapes, gouges.

Four vertical lines

followed by diagonal slash

row after row

page after page

day after day.

Meanwhile corky bark calluses,

sealing open wounds.

Long-fingered leaves

yellow the canopy

as elder maples

make ready

for winter.

published by Front Porch Review April, 2021