the oldest tree
hasn’t been
found yet
and I hope
that it never
catches the eye
of a well-meaning
botanist:
let it live in peace
it’s done so well,
and so can we.

---

E. Peregrine (they/them) is a transgender conductor, poet, teacher, and Pacific Northwesterner turned New England resident. Their writing has appeared internationally in Meniscus, Gold Man Review, Roanoke Review, Abraxas, Variant Literature, Bluestem Magazine, and elsewhere.