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Next poem turns a corner.

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There are a number of poems
about trees in this book,

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and here is one.

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"Late winter in plague time."

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"We permit ourselves

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A walk every day.

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We believe outdoors is safe.

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We remove our masks,

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And the trees in Riverside Park

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Are so individual,

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The curved or abrupt
swerves of their boughs

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Appear to demonstrate free
will in cahoots with biology.

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So then, one day, crossing
the street to the park,

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Something in the air

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Not wind, not fragrance,

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Brushes against my body,

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Surges like breakers,

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From the row of
leafless sycamores.

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What can it be?

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It must be the sap rising.

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Yes, today must be the day

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The sap begins to rise,

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Exciting the trees

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So that their bodies

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Emit waves of a chemical
science cannot yet name,

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Which my own body can sense,

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Even in the midst of winter,

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Even in the midst of plague."

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