Established 1999
The leather magnolia
petals fall hard
as if to crack
the sidewalk, then lie
bowl-still beside
waxy leaves
already yellowed
by spring downshifting
into summer.
They twitch and skitter
like the bottlebrush tail
of a nearby red squirrel,
lifted by the slightest
breeze to be thrown
a-ground anew. But
the petals hold,
brown in the sun,
and wait to catch
a rain that will make
all things green
once more.