prairie
trees

Southern Saskatchewan is weird
There are few trees
although several pine forests you notice
miraculously grow in straight rows

Scratchy trees tuck themselves
around small farm buildings
grey, willowy sticks for protection
from dirt-stealing winds

Most amazing are the trees along the highway
from Moose Jaw to Swift Current
In this vastness the trees are not tall, stand alone
singular icons out of place in the flatness that surround

s Their loneliness strikes in the middle of you
To be so singular amidst this very much flatness
To be vertical in a Universe of horizons
You begin to worry for the aloneness of trees

Slowly you remember it is February
that winter is a time for harsh contrasts
There are the land-scattered antelope, coyotes, deer
and in the spring, birds will return, gophers arise

And astonishingly as you stretch your vehicle
across this mid-winter flatness
you can see
every single tree

has a nest in it

© Thomas Trofimuk

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