By Virginia Jasmin Pasalo

 

JUST as there are plant lovers, there are those who suffocate with a lot of trees, especially in forests. This is clearer to me now than ever before, having met a few of them. One is a neighbor who stealthily cut away big branches while I was on travel, believing snakes make their home among the trees. The other is a relative who did not wait for my permission to cut old potted trees, which I carefully transported and spent resources to move into a vacant lot, because, according to his distorted logic, the village is for houses and not meant to build urban forests

Walking inside the village, my sister pointed out several front lawns, carpeted with green plastic grass. We both wondered, why not plant real grass? Out of curiosity, we stopped to ask one of the house helpers watering some potted plants on top of the covered lawn. Her answer surprised us.

“Ma’am, it’s hard to maintain grass, they grow so fast and I spend time weeding, so my boss told me to just cover it with plastic grass so I can focus on the housework.”

We were surprised to learn that some homeowners actually prefer plastic options over fresh green grass. Others, for their own reasons, just cemented their lawns, around the trunk of trees, allowing them to breathe, but not enough for growth.

But this is not surprising, considering some public officials also sacrificed very old trees to build structures for “aesthetic” reasons, and for “economic development” reasons, or for their own gain. Trees were felled to give way to the widening of a highway that had become less traveled because of more efficient road systems like the Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway (TPLEX). Trees were felled as well to build a place of “reflection” facing the Lingayen Gulf.

 

The smell of newly-cut grass

“There’s a snake!”, he shouted
the motorized grass cutter swung
left to right, as the cutting edge
rotated clockwise, in a semi-circle
flinging the creature in the air,
wriggling still, without its head

“It’s dead!”, they chorused, gingerly poking
the scales to make sure, it’s truly dead
while it twisted, oscillated, and slid
through the cut grass, soothing its wounds
desperately looking for the severed part
of its existence, trying to escape

It was quick, the head flew in the air
landing in the heap of dried leaves,
no chance to run or fight, or resurrect
crashing heavily, like a fallen bird
as she took one last look
at her other half, now resting on the soft bed
of newly-cut grass
She could smell, from a distance
the sweet scent of green

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments