Les Marronniers

Like a tree frequently mentioned
In the diary of an important person
A tree fighting hard in a storm
To stay literal, like character actors
Given new life in a series
The trees along the river
A common species in the temperate world
It’s OK for me to walk under their flowers
It is consistent with my values to look up
The leaf scars left
On the twig, whatever that means
The flowers have an already-seen quality
I associate with objects under the sun
And I am one
Mishearing “the green book stalls”
As a complete sentence
The size of a fist, the book idles
In the chest, the new-old decadence
The fast-slow time of it
The arriving early to lateness
Precocity promised me
Dusk, basically, or dusk effects
Arc lamps flicker in
The abstract sense
Of brushing up against