As If Zero Were an Ellipse

as if winter turned to spring

as if red-winged blackbird

as if age ran backward

as if hunger abated

as if sleep brought relief

as if the power pole across the street

were an obelisk carved with hieroglyphs

as if I could read what I need to know

as if Queen Victoria knew

the damage done in her name

as if she didn’t know about

her minions’ minions

as if spices, as if tea, as if opium

as if East had never known West

dominance by any other name

as if the meek were to remain meek

& inherit all the same

as if the two cedars were the same height

one crown not toppled by storm

as if the twice-as-tall cedar were not

to be felled this year

as if humans knew

as if a tree hadn’t the right

to suffer & die in its own time