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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