we grew together: planting a seed

I was born in a heat

only the dogs will claim

and upon my birth

the soothsayers said

while charting the path

of the moon

at the moment of my first breath,

that I would have the constitution

of a flower

in the hottest month of the year.

Well then, thank God I’m a tree.

No delicate petals to pluck he

loves me not as much as I thought

or he said-

but fuck it, I’m not wilting.

No gardener needed;

I’m self-seeding,

self-feeding,

self-healing.

No ‘water 2 cups twice a day’- I drink the rain,

no ‘partial to full shade’- I’ll make my own,

‘cover with a sheet below 30 degrees’-

these roots dig deep they never freeze,

no fence around me. – I’m boundless

chainless,

shameless.

And this stem

only bends

if it grows that way.