POETRY

Crepe Myrtle

This is the first I’ve seen crepe myrtle blooming
their crinkled torus blossoms all through summer,
or growing into trees. A tiny bush
grew near my childhood bedroom window wall —
I chose it for the hot pink flowers blooming
for an entire month in summer. May
to hot September here, I’ve yet to see
them out of bloom. Pink flowers everywhere —
along, between the roads and houses, only
the freshly planted the same size as mine
up in Kentucky, just now five years old.
The five-year-olds have grown to pink-torch trees
in Mississippi’s summer heat. While mine
was one, unique and…