Text Message to My Stepson

You remember that tree of heaven,

also called stinking sumac, also called varnish

tree, also called ailanthus altissima

of the Simaroubaceae family that bowed

the fence on Drew’s side

when you were a kid?

It seems serendipitous and strange

that you spent countless hours

kicking a soccer ball beneath it

and are now studying the benefits

of the quassinoids such putrefying

plant matter becomes.

What heals heals. The chain link

bellied out, the boy

you were gone to another state.