From “Lockdown Garden”

The bark is smooth, flaky,
the trunk hollow;
midway, black-edged, is a hole
big enough to put your hand in
or the whole arm. From two
sides, branches come out, whipthin,
green-tipped. The tree
is otherwise bare. Too tall to be
a stump, the crepe myrtle
is preparing to flower.

About The Author

Arvind Krishna Mehrotra