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Cypress Street

By Todd-Michael St. Pierre; Illustration by Shinod AP

Todd-Michael St. Pierre writes poems, songs and plays for children. He is a storyteller at schools throughout the southern United States. Among his published works are 'Somewhere: As Told By Garrett The Parrot' and 'The Louisiana State Bird Beauty Pageant'. 'Cypress Street' is part of a collection, 'A Treehouse On The Moon', to be published soon, along with other works such as 'The Prince Of Nonsense: Silly Poems4Kids' and 'Put The People In A Zoo And Set The Animals Free: Poems4Kids To Read Out Loud'. St Pierre lives in St. Francisville, Louisiana, with his two Siamese twin cats.

I took a stroll down Cypress Street
The hot sidewalk beneath my feet.

The one thing that stood out the most
Where trees once stood there were lamppost.

I’d never seen so much concrete
No Cypress left on Cypress Street.

According to my Great Aunt Gem
There used to be a lot of them.

They cut them down. They took their wood
A treeless street is plum no good!

Just like a treeless neighborhood
So tell the Mayor next time they meet...
To change the name to Lamppost Street!