Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Trimming Privets


The more she trimmed and hacked
away at the Privets dividing two
pieces of property—hers from her
neighbor’s—the more she wanted
to trim.  The more she pruned,
the more she questioned what,
exactly, they were providing
privacy for, or from?  They stood
twelve, fifteen, eighteen feet tall between
an un-used piece of her neighbor’s yard
fronting an alley and the wall to her
own garage—cinder block walled,
private enough.  She hauled out both
ladders, a long-handled tree trimmer,
a hand pruner, rakes, leaf bags.
Every cut was a quick decision –
Don’t need you! You’re out! Too tall,
too intrusive, too brittle, too little, too
low-to-the-ground, too tangled in vine,
too in my face, too in my way,
too hampering of the swing
of the chain link fence gate.
Snip—
             Snip—
                          Snip—
without remorse or sympathy.
There, she said, hours later—
we’re done.  See if you can make
a better showing next Spring.

1 comment:

Lou Faber said...

That'll teach them. Beautiful.