This tree of bones

sits so alone

one branch a femur

all chewed up, from a beaver

kneecap of giraffe

limbs so long you can’t laugh

the spindly twigs

from sparrow’s wings

and the trunk, does it dare

from an elephant there

the knot, it’s a hoof jutted

from a cow once milked, ‘uddered’

last, its leaves you see

molted reptile skin be.

 

– Sandra Johnson, June 25, 2022

 

Photo credit Deborah Dalton