Conifer Columns

The difference in just one-hundred miles west of here!

Majestic longleaf pines toil, East Texas

denizens,

Catered to by diesel haulers; laid down, cutting clear

Paths; power poles, load stacked trees, clear-cut for new horizons.

Some slated as raw goods for oil sharp saw mills sprung, root

And wrung along rural roads; rough piled, deposited;

Soil sunk under the weight of wood in yards, waiting; soot

Soaring skyward, departing trucks spewing, soon headed

Home, loaded with offerings of new polished craft pews.

Emerald needles turned tea color color streams brown;

Plush pine carpeting, swine delight: roots, wrecks, souse and spews;

Hog heaven! girdling scent markings rub raw forests down.

Hunters emanate, set baited traps, the copse embank;

A carved corpus on the cross; the people pray and thank.

Gary Edward Geraci