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)