Up the ladder
Jack Cooper
We fed the tree for six weeks,
heaping nettles at its base
as we bared nearby forest, clearing paths
to afternoons spent in high branches
while you lay sunbathing on salvaged wood,
not hearing dog-walkers when they passed below us,
like when – on our first day spent building –
I stood on that nail, piercing the sole of my shoe
but stopping just short of my skin.