Competition is a cedar you settled
with. Because I was digging holes
all over Texas rooting you another
tree. Oh, Fort Worth could’ve been
the birthplace of a forest, but Austin’s
expanding rapidly, oaks overgrown
with branches lugging encumbering
ambitions. I know. I’ve lived
in Nashville. Los Angeles.
There is no life of transience
without large cockroaches
squished on sidewalks.
(originally published in Ariel Chart, Summer 2019)