20150906 (house)

Plaster wolf whom Dinah called "Blitzer" replacement for the bronze wolf
stolen early on

Yale studies estimate there are 420 trees

For each one of us on the face of the earth

Which sounds like good news until I

Note trees are being cut down all around

Me especially in my back yard where

Contractors are clearing all the trees brush

Grass will be the last to go as they ready

The odd-shaped lot for construction of a 

House not likely to match the brick 

Italianate on one side or the renovated

Victorian worker’s cottage on the other

Because the house will probably be wood

That’s more trees you can add to those 

Already cut down now lest I come off

As a Simon-pure Goody two-shoes on

Tree preservation I confess I had several

Rotting trees removed first thing

They were likely to fall any time 

When my neighbor moved in 

He said he’d remove the huge tree 

Between our garages threatening 

The foundations of each I acquiesced 

I miss the shade it provided keeping

My garage driveway cool in summer 

When I first bought here the back yard 

Was a green bower of branches 

Stretching over the patio so like 

What a Druid would want as a garden 

Spot for his Maypole the previous owner

Fancied himself a Bohemian social critic 

Who spurned conventional religion 

Worshipped wood sprites any 

Number of god-goddesses check 

Neo-druidism for the details son 

Of a county commissioner

Drank a lot smoked even more 

Dallied among the lefty-Irish 

Of the neighborhood promoted labor

Solidarity peace for the planet wrote 

Of himself in Wikipedia 

Since redacted as not meriting

Sufficient significance Henry Q 

Was an anti-war activist . . .landowner 

Landlord freelance philosopher

He painted the inside of the garage

Black to resemble a cave on the outside

A picture of Stonehenge reframed 

The face as the Parthenon replete

With columns about as a tabernacle

For a bronze wolf who figured 

In Druidic worship the attic his special

Shelter he painted each of the four points

Of the compass as Air Fire Earth Water 

Placed controls for the ceiling lamps 

In a special floor panel to the

Black cast iron drain/waste/vent

Column arcing along the low ceiling

He draped a fearsome papier-mâché dragon

Breathing fire hung cast plaster green

Devil-faces above each front window

For a time my ex- had her studio here

But first because she felt so uncomfortable

Had her Wiccan friends hold a smudging

Warding off evil spirits who never

Bothered me though I slept here

For an atheist I thought she carried 

A lot of water for an unverified 

Spirit world

c. J.S.Manista, 2015