Lobbying for a Loblolly
06/16/2004 12:18 a.m.
(Lobbying for a Tree)

If I could lobby
for a select species of tree
to come and grow
in Ontario
it would be the
loblolly pine

how scrumptious the name
what a writer could do
with this
working the tongue of the pen
over its fascinating twists

one of this tree’s attributes is
it acts as a natural sound barrier
always a welcome aspect to me
in this world of noise pollution

if it could survive in my choice setting
I’d give it a home in my latest novel m.s.
but according to my search engine
it seems it can’t belong
in the Bon Echo park environs
up here; and it would be too huge
a leap for poetic license

instead I’ll envy the folks
in North Carolina
and perhaps out in western Canada
who have such treelines
and for a while
I guess I’ll loll about and pine
over the makings of a haiku
with a loblolly in my lines
and for the m.s. be content
with the honorable ancient cedars
over several hundred years old and the white and silver birch
with the maple and spruce, not too shabby either
and Northern and Jack Pines
the latter a fine muse for Milton Acorn
I should be safe with them
though we'll see; I have more research to do
I may be scouting in google
the encyclopaedia and the library
'til it's almost time to hunt down a
Christmas Tree

Author’s Note:

If any of you have been fortunate enough to be around
loblolly pines, I’d love to hear from you about them even
if I turn evergreen. But remember, the loblolly was my idea, first. Well, second, I learned about it in Nicholas Sparks' novel, The Guardian. Figures, he writes about his native North Carolina predominantly. Thanks for whetting my appetite Nicholas. I have to go there some day, after reading so much about the landscape from these novels.
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