I’ve never re-posted one of my own poems before. But the redbud tree in my yard is at the height of its loveliness, fully blooming, tiny green leaves just beginning to open at the tips of each pink branch. Admiring it all weekend, walking by it, mowing under it, watching it from my writing perch as I am right now, this poem from last year kept reciting itself in my head–
ADVICE FROM MY REDBUD TREE
Flower first
before you dress
in green and
practical leaves.
Why wait
when this very day
can be spent
covered in pink blossoms
and fat bees,
every single one of them
drunk and busy,
lopsided with joy
just to be near you
at the height of
your beauty?
Flower first.
Flower now.
Extravagance is Everything.
Puff Of Smoke Poems 