It’s funny how frantically
a few leaves appear to
be waving at me when I lift
my eyes to the maple
that tried to kill me yesterday
dropping a hefty javelin
just a couple feet from
my wicker chair. If these green
hands want so desperately
for me to notice them,
I must be quite the celebrity
plunked down here
among myriad poparazzi.
I must be pretty sleek
in my clammy rain jacket, one leg
raised along the grimy planks
of my own back deck, the seat
of my blue jeans inched back
into the dryness of the eaves.
I’m either a big shot or bear
some sad resemblance to one.
Either way, I wave back to the tree,
too late now because a fight
has broken out among the birds
and my big name has been forgotten.
A dim sun flashes in a puddle
like a photographer’s lightbulb.
I miss the old days, what it felt like
to be somebody
Cameron Morse is Senior Reviews editor at Harbor Review and the author of six collections of poetry. His first collection, Fall Risk, won Glass Lyre Press’s 2018 Best Book Award. His latest is Far Other (Woodley Press, 2020). He holds and MFA from the University of Kansas City—Missouri and lives in Independence, Missouri, with his wife Lili and two children. For more information, check out his Facebook page or website.
Photo by Sarah Trummer from Pexels
