Poetry
Black Rot of Crucifers and Juniper Woes
Black Rot of Crucifers
Black Rot of Crucifers, a blight brought upon the Cruciferae, this innocent race, their cross to bear. They present cross-shaped petals and leaves to ward off those who would attempt their crucifixion—crusaders out on a blind mission of destruction.
bacterial dilemma:
crux, crucis; a cross
ferre; to bear
crucible of fear
offensive crux
of rot
leaves
bearing
yellow vivisection
become brown
disease expands
eventual leaf
and central nervous system
collapse
pathogens enter
and spread
their disease
Juniper Woes
Juniper Woes, believed by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to be brought on by winter injury, leads to the loss of untold numbers of evergreens and shrubs. Although usually resulting from the interaction of low temperatures, frequent freeze / thaw cycles, rapid cooling and thawing rates, this is only a spur to the downward mental spiral.
Trees often recover provided new buds aren't damaged, thus causing further trauma.
Note: While many brown trees may be attributed to winter injury, be careful not to lump every brown evergreen into the winter injury group.
winter injury
working to cool your insides
crystals ice
cracking pitch
permeating
your ever present
greenery
(if possible)
oozing
pitch
pining
old green browning
as new growth
greens
Contributor
Susan SwensonSusan Swenson is a writer/poet living in Brooklyn. She is also editor/publisher of Pierogi Press.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

Rindon Johnson: Law of Large Numbers
By Ann C. CollinsJUL-AUG 2021 | ArtSeen
Gathering materials that are aged, processed, transmuted, and repurposed, Johnson does not set his focus on fixed objects but in the way things evolve over time.

Turning Lead To Air: Music for Cello From Primo Levi
By Alessandro CassinMARCH 2023 | Music
Can narrative prose occasion instrumental music? Though countless compositions have been based on literary texts, the process from words to music can be elusive. A case in point was the world premiere of Luciano Chessas Piombo (Italian for lead)from Primo Levis story of the same titlefor solo cello, performed by the exceptional Frances-Marie Uitti on January 21 at Magazzino Italian Art in Cold Spring, New York, and the following week, at the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco.
Jen Shyu and the Music of Loss
By George GrellaMARCH 2021 | Music
There are those times when one encounters talent that goes beyond normal experience, talent that is a pleasure to witness but difficult to grasplike grabbing smoke, the standard tools are inadequate. That's what it's like at one of Jen Shyu's performances.
Kevin Jared Hosein’s Hungry Ghosts
By Daniel TurtelMARCH 2023 | Books
The title of Kevin Jared Hoseins novel is derived from a mourning ritual in which rice balls are left out for the hungry dead while the living forgo all worldly pleasure. Its a good fit for this beautiful yet unceasingly dismal portrait of mid-1940s Trinidad, in which abject poverty, colonialism, and recent war-time occupation have squeezed joy from the landscape and the people alike, leaving tragedy and loss as the most salient features of either.