How to Trim an Olive Tree

My friend Pierre taught me to shape
it into a vase. To let light into
the center to keep the rot away.
To cut off sagging branches.
And any branch that crosses another.

My friend Pierre died last year
when his tractor tipped over
on the last day of the grape harvest.
He called himself a paysanne
with both pride and modesty.

My friend Pierre taught me to live
the way you trim an olive tree.
He said when you are done trimming,
a bird should be able to fly
through the branches

of your body.

Jim Daniels’ latest book, The Luck of the Fall, his seventh collection of short fiction, was published by Michigan State University Press in July. Recent poetry books include The Human Engine at Dawn, Wolfson Press, and Gun/Shy, Wayne State University Press. A native of Detroit, he lives in a condo in an old church on the Southside of Pittsburgh and teaches in the Alma College low-residency MFA program.

Published January 15 2024