Text Message to My Stepson
You remember that tree of heaven,
also called stinking sumac, also called varnish
tree, also called ailanthus altissima
of the Simaroubaceae family that bowed
the fence on Drew’s side
when you were a kid?
It seems serendipitous and strange
that you spent countless hours
kicking a soccer ball beneath it
and are now studying the benefits
of the quassinoids such putrefying
plant matter becomes.
What heals heals. The chain link
bellied out, the boy
you were gone to another state.
Cal Freeman is the author of the books Fight Songs (Eyewear, 2017) and Poolside at the Dearborn Inn (R&R Press, 2022). His writing has appeared in many journals including The Oxford-American, River Styx, Ligeia Magazine, Southword, Passages North, and Hippocampus. He currently serves as Writer-In-Residence with Inside Out Literary Arts Detroit and teaches at Oakland University.
Other Works
Chelsea Bieker Interview
by Liv Albright
... things that are sad and things that are funny, and often they can really go together ...
The Barnacle
by Max Restaino
... a dark splotch resembling a marble caught in black velvet ...