Evergreens smelling of the soft
side of an island
catch me sideways 

and straight on—I never met
a tree I didn’t like.
I can cough away fright 

as long as I remember
what I said about trees.
And the whys of this are tonics 

I no longer wish
to mix. I taste,
for the first time 

without guilt, the knots
and sighs of pine.