/title> </head> REFLECTIONS OF A MEMBER OF THE TEA PARTY<br /><br /> <em>…a tiny confused idea is always greater than a vast one which is clear.<br /> Giacomo Leopardi</em><br /> <br /> He had a hawser-laid rope<br /> attached to his Hummer bumper.<br /> Tires skidded in place, burning rubber,<br /> smoke wafting up into the trees<br /> as he gunned the motor of his monster truck,<br /> trying in vain to pull down<br /> a Cornelain cherry dogwood tree.<br /><br /> Why are you doing that I ask? He replies,<br /> “Can’t you see the leaves have fallen off<br /> and the tree is standing naked?”<br /> “Look at those bare branches,<br /> like arms of scarcely clad dancers<br /> swaying in the wind.<br /> Salome couldn’t have been more seductive.”<br /><br /> “The leaves will grow back next Spring,” I say,<br /> but he can’t endure being exposed to a naked tree,<br /> pointing to the crevices, crotches and cankerous knot holes<br /> between the branches.<br /> He swore the tree was in heat,<br /> smelling a scent of musk in its roots.<br /> When darkness descends, he’s worried there’s unlimited<br /> opportunity for one night stands.<br /><br /> As a member of the Tea Party,<br /> he studies the boy-scout handbook.<br /> Self-stimulation is prohibited,<br /> scouts pledge to do their duty to GOD,<br /> and to be “CLEAN, “REVERENT<br /> and MORALLY STRAIGHT.<br /> Cold showers and dribbling a basketball,<br /> suggested remedies to avoid Onan’s sin.<br /><br /> Even Joyce Kilmer never saw anything as lovely as a tree.<br /> I walk away wondering if anyone might be tempted to surrender<br /> <em>to what cravings underlie the awesome thrust of seed, stem, leaf and blossom.</em><br /> <br /> Milton P. Ehrlich </body> </html>