Divorce
She leaned up against the warped
Pile of graying plywood
In the back yard
Under the three trunked maple
She used to play in
Before he left
He promised to build
A tree house, together
They planned, bought the wood
He left
And she at thirteen
Has watched the wood
Delaminating, like her mother
For three years
And leaning against it now
The wood splinters
And tears her clothes.
The tree house
And he
Are becoming happily less important
(2009)
