a rocky place to call home metaphorically speaking by the side of a road among the detritus of motorists thrown from car windows as was he, just a core from an apple in an unfinished lunch box eaten on the way home that somehow germinated I call him, him because it makes me comfortable to give gender and character build up some sort of empathy in the winter a sad skeleton silhouette against a slate sky bur every spring blossoming to produce apples for the birds where no human would dare wander unless broken down I admire the consistency of nature and the hope it brings