Dee Allen is an African-Italian performance poet based in Oakland, California U.S.A. Active on creative writing & Spoken Word since the early 1990s. Author of 7 books--Boneyard, Unwritten Law, Stormwater, Skeletal Black (all from POOR Press), Elohi Unitsi (Conviction 2 Change Publishing) and coming in February 2022, Rusty Gallows (Vagabond Books) and Plans (Nomadic Press) and 42 anthology appearances under his figurative belt so far.
IN EXCHANGE
___________
I feel for the antediluvian forests
Being systemically cut for
American lumber for building
Spreading more civilisation,
European biomass for burning
As factory-made fuel, new
Means to spoil the air--
Critters of the trees, of wings and paws,
Forced to fly and crawl to new lives
Of displacement--
Their original homes in exchange
For uncertainty--
THE PECAN TREE
_____________
Before age 12:
Put me in a high place
And the fear of falling
Would defeat me.
At age 12:
To break from boredom
Sitting inside the house,
I walked outside,
On a whim,
To my aunt and uncle's backyard
To climb up
A pecan tree.
Limb by sturdy
Nut-bearing limb,
My bony pre-teen self
Made like an annual cicada
Clutching the bark,
Scaling up, up,
Up and away
To the deciduous
Tower's highest point.
As my spindly arms
Held tightly onto the super
Steady trunk of the pecan tree,
My eyes beheld
A whole world
Different from ground level:
Many chimneys, rooves, metal TV antennas,
Building blocks to aerial
Suburban stretch for one mile,
Alone in an alien dimension that
Included the top of my house.
The climb up the pecan tree
Was easy.
The climb back down
Was the real
Test of courage. A matter of
Reversing my moves
Very carefully.
I no longer feared high places.
