<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Dutch Elm Disease</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">When Danny Johnson’s big brother was killed in Vietnam,</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Danny ran around the block five times. I counted. Ran</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">as if when he stopped his brother would be back in their driveway</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">washing his car. But nobody knew anything about time travel</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">back then, </span><em style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class="">Star Trek</em><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> hadn’t even come out, Lieutenant Uhura</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">still on Broadway doing </span><em style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class="">Blues for Mr. Charlie</em><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">. And even if Danny</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">did understand the space-time continuum, his parents</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">weren’t having it, his mother on the porch yelling</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">his name, his father tackling him on the front lawn, all us kids,</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">the whole block standing there on pause. Which didn’t exist</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">either. No fast forward, no reverse. We weren’t even Black</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">yet. Was Milwaukee even Milwaukee? Is the Lincoln Park Bridge</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">still there, do boys like Danny still climb over the rail,</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">hug their bony knees to their narrow chests and plop into the river</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">as if there’s no way his parents could lose </span><em style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class="">two</em><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> children?</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">Which is all I know about Vietnam, that and the way the sun hung</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">in the faded sky as Danny ran around and around</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">and held the air hostage, that and the way the thick August air</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">ignored the leaves of all our doomed elm trees</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">and let itself be held hostage. The streets were like ghosts</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class="">when they cut down those trees.</span><div class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Valencia Robin<br style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32);" class=""></span><span style="caret-color: rgb(32, 32, 32); color: rgb(32, 32, 32); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" class=""> </span></div></div></div></body></html>