Palm Psalm

Normally a palm branch
stays pretty green
tacked to the wall
of my peace room.

Big spreading head of a fan
tooth edged saw spine.
this one split, cracked,
crinkled.

I first noticed it
the night I met Ylube.
She’s native Guatemalan.
Ylube told me about her son, Pablo,
4th grader, one of the educated men
about town. Back home
soldiers came and cut his Daddy’s ears
off.

They left that night, Ylube and Pablo,
and walked. It’s illegal to walk too far
to get away from a bullet. ICE aims to
turn them back to the home jungle,
where normally a palm branch
stays pretty green.

Only reason I cut the palm branch
was to decorate my home.
Now that it’s shrunk up
I wish I would’ve left it
on the tree.