Don't think

See that tree
looking angry with broad
and black arms
low and at the ready
to barge in?
It’s there, but put out your
cigarette
and don't think about it.
What I tell

you not to, you know you’ll
do, so think
instead of the black-white
woodpeckers
who hang at bird feeders
upside down
and who sound like squeak toys.
Now don't think
about them, how they might

scar happy
trees with arms raised to blue
and a sense
of distance. While your heel
scuffs the butt
out on the walk, you won’t
be thinking
about the angry tree
before you.