removing the deadwood – le frasce

sometimes an image surprises
and then it’s worth the time
to expose that kernel of wonder

the pruner’s pose
is classical in its reach
baroque in its setting
american in its clothing
ethereal in its glide
and generous
in its offering

 
Today, the tree-service guys came to prune the lowest branches of the Redwood. And Jason – the pruner in the pic – used a cherry-picker for the job. He parked the humongous bucket-truck in the alley, and because there were parked cars, he only dropped two safety feet. He did an amazingly job setting the right foot a millimeter away from the parked Acura tire. (In another life, he was a surgeon.) He then telescoped the bucket, using the 60 foot hydraulic lift, over all the wires and brought it into my back-yard and into the Redwood. After cutting the six bottom limbs, he climbed into the tree and removed all the deadwood. My father would have used all these dead branches – frasce; the large ones as stakes in his garden and the small one for kindling .