TREESILIENCE

by Deb Freedman

While the Lahaina banyan tree has yet to rebound back to its pre-fire splendor, signs of life are very much there, according to landscape contractor Chris Imonti. “We did root samples last week and we had very good news as far as new life in the roots. A lot of new roots shooting off. We tested the moisture and arborist Steve Nims, who is the unofficial leader of the Banyan Tree hui has analyzed all the treatments and he is out today putting sensors on the tree to measure growth rates. With the compost tea we are seeing good results and as long as we give it enough love, I think it’s going to be fine,” Imonti commented. Additional measures have been put into place by the hui (group) who are caring for Lahaina banyan tree and working towards its restoration. The ground and soil around the tree is being regularly aerated, and it is often being treated with a “tree-loving soup,” a mix of nutrients Imonti himself formulated for the recovering banyan. Additionally, volunteers are spreading chopped up alfalfa, a legume—a soil enhancing green manure—around the base of the tree to aid in its recovery. —Hawaii Magazine, September 6, 2023

In Tallahassee,

Hurricane Idalia hurled

a 100-year-old oak tree.

The tree’s fall

fractured

Governor DeSantis’ mansion

in his absence.

Notified of its collapse,

the governor was optimistic.

He told reporters,

if the entire tree needs to be cut,

“…that’s just going to be more room

for my kids to hit baseballs in.”

In Lahaina, Maui,

a 150-year-old banyan tree,

the heart of the town,

devoured by

fast-spreading wildfires

spurred by human error

stands

scorched

living tissue at its core.

Kanaka

in grief,

some homeless,

some looking for lost loves,

nourish the banyan tree

with water

and organic compost

in a town burnt

but not of love nor hope.

Steve Nims, arborist tree tender,

says it is “kind of in a coma…

There are good signs the tree will recover…

It’s up to the tree.”

Deb Freedman is a poet living in Pennsylvania. Her poems have been published in The New Verse News and DVP/US 1’s Worksheets 67. She hopes the oak and banyan trees survive and thrive.

ELECTRIC DREAMS

by James Schwartz 

ElectReon, a wireless and in-road wireless electric vehicle charging technology company, will deploy its first public wireless EV charging road system in Michigan… ElectrRon's charging infrastructure can wireless charge EVs while they are in motion and stationary. The company said it is the first in the world to be successfully demonstrated on public roads. —WXYZ Detroit, February 2, 2022

I dreamt of all the roads I have walked upon,

Beginning with the long gravel swath,

Cutting through the Midwestern countryside,

Running parrellel to the Amish farm,

Housing my earliest memories,

Of March mud puddles,

Mom buckling my boots,

A nearby creek that roared,

Today is a drainage ditch,

Tamed into a narrow ribbon,

Trickling through a culver,

The dream shifts sequence,

I-75 southbound to Sarasota,

Above the quiet fog,

Palms line the boulevards,

I walked twenty years ago,

Another shift through Spanish moss,

To a red clay road,

Outside Tallahassee,

Another shift,

Through South Pacific sunlight,

Another red road,

This one of cinder,

Curving through,

The Kapoho rainforest,

Up and down Noni Farms Road,

I walked so many times,

I no longer needed the moonlight,

To navigate the now desolate,

Steaming onyx field,

Closer to Kilauea,

Lies Chain of Craters road,

For this walk,

I am accompanied by,

A happy dog,

A shift: 

The City of Refuge,

A shift: 

Across the ocean,

The Olympic National Park,

Houses green, wet,

Shimmering, sacred memories,

Roads in Mexico,

Are bloodstained with history,

The streets of Rosarita bustle,

Dreams never conclude,

Logically,

But here I am,

Waiting on the bus,

On M1,

The first mile,

Of paved highway,

In the US,

Not far from,

The old Ford factory,

As I awaken,

To historical headlines,

Heralding the news 

Of an electric charging road,

Coming to the D,

I cling to,

The last dream fragments,

Where I am walking,

Tomorrow.

James Schwartz is a poet, writer, slam performer and author of 5 poetry collections including The Literary Party: Growing Up Gay and Amish in America. Twitter: @queeraspoetry