Ten to Remember from the Hike

in Wisconsin at the start of June

Your white and sexy flowers,
dear Black Locust tree,
pull the honeybees your way.

Here’s Joe Pye for setting bones.
I’d better be careful
not to need you.

Quinine all wild and happy
thank you for cooling my fever
once and long ago.

Oh young Basswood tree,
I think you were sampled by
a white-tailed deer who loved you.

Last year’s Sumac,
your berries still cling.
No lemonade from you today.

Slender and tooth-edged,
Hedge Parsley three feet tall,
you slow-dance in the breeze.

Dear Black Walnut Tree,
though nothing can grow beneath you,
you wear your leaves like graceful gloves

Tall and generous Cup Plant,
you invite the birds and insects
to drink their fill from you

Nettles, oh,
if only I had some gloves,
I’d take you home for soup.

I know they say you’re invasive,
dock-like Butterbur. But how I admire
your bold and brassy spread.

©Susa Silvermarie 2025