Aerial in the Pines by Stephen Dunn

To cut off the top branches/of the mesquite pine/(Once unthinkable for us)

was a bit of nature traded/for clear reception,for what was fundamental now.

The tree looked foolish, like someone/well-dressed/with a bad haircut, but the television

had become what to do/with diffiuclt time,/important, an antidote to speaking

if need be, company when our nerves/couldn’t bear the silence.