Anil Deo Poet Didactic

Bonsai: the Greening Oriental Art

You Texas Cuspidata!
Not you, and not a curse:
Taxus cuspidata, for Japanese Yew!

So, don’t confuse a plant with the Ibex
Ilex serrata – that’s Christmas Holly
Or Japanese Winterberry

Butterflies, butternuts, a Buttinsky?
Shut your eyes, it’s Conocarpus erectus
(Pastor here is only saying "Buttonwood" in Latin)

Meanwhile in nature, the pines of Japan
Are dwarfed like bottled thunder:
Pinus thunbergiana

The Christmas Spirit is perennial in China (?)
Schinus terebinthifolius
(Again, Latin for another plant:  Christmasberry)

Try to bonsai gladly;
A creeper in your home or villa;
Haha! Bourgainvillea glabra

My dad called this beauty, Pride of India!
Myrtle set me right, but India won at the end:
Laegerstroemia indica

Neighbors, boyhood buddies, international relations?
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry? No plant connection:
Just Hackberry named Celtis sinensis

(c) Modified 20170417, Deo. This poem was previously published in my book in 2005 (UnAmerican Education: Poetry and Politics, by Red Lead Press)

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