My Nature

Growing up

The field across the street from my home

(Sturdy squat apartment building

Proud of its small mark on the skyline)

Smelled of chamomile through the summer

But I didn’t know what chamomile was

And only knew that it smelled like field.

The tiny cluster of trees in that field

Huddled together against the encroaching city

Sheltered bears and rivers and snakes

In my youth

Despite being across the boulevard from a mall.

And while it would be nearly a decade before I saw a bigger forest

I have yet to sleep under the stars.