Tulip Poplar

ByMerrie Dail

At first
a few leaves lay
scattered on the ground
but by Wednesday
whole yards were covered

Lawns
returned to green
only when weekend
gardeners shredded and swept the interlopers

It is early August, yet the Tulip Poplar doesn’t care

Years ago, its
broad yellow leaf
intrigued me, as
reaching between the
Manual of Woody Landscape Plants
And The Outer Lands
I found in the ‘Field Book’ – binding worn
pages, stained and dog-eared: lirodendron tulipifera

They tower
over the neighborhood
reaching 100 feet or more –
impressive girths rising from the earth

Not ready
to acknowledge
the unending march of time
I no longer seek
its most perfect leaf –

Stealing summer and
spewing leaves everywhere
they are the precursors of fall

Too soon, too soon.

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