The Fig Tree – a poem by Mark Tulin

The Fig Tree

It’s the biggest fig tree in California
People get off the train to take pictures of it
Children play around its shady umbrella
Animals burrow inside its mammoth confines
The sky rains on it and the sun gives it light
The homeless have a place to shelter
Its ecological system is vast
Its branches extend a full city block
Its roots are written in calligraphy
It can ask the eternal question
It spreads open like the book of answers
It transcends nature and primordial man
It is the symbol for a universal sisterhood
It is the Tao
It understands the way.

Mark Tulin is a former family therapist who lives in Santa Barbara, California.  He has a poetry chapbook, Magical Yogis, published by Prolific Press (2017). He has an upcoming book of short stories entitled, The Asthmatic Kid and Other Stories.  His stories and poetry have appeared in Page and Spine, smokebox, Vita Brevis, Leaves of Ink, The Drabble, among others. His website is Crow On The Wire.