The Tree of Old Worry

If you hang a tire from the tree of old
worry, be careful
how long you swing.

 

If you build a house in its branches,
its mortgage will
foreclose in a month.

 

Fat luck, said the broker.
Holding onto a tree for a month.

 

As for the owl
you spot in its branches,
it’s safe to stop saying

 

hello. As for your canteen
and the tree of old
worry, I’d caution the tea from its leaves.

 

And as for the canoe
you’d carve from its bark,
I’m told it floats poorly downriver.

 

Fat luck, said the arborist.
No one remembers
who paddled here last.

 

No one knows
the next party upriver.