a crushed tallboy

the elm outside my window is tearing up the sidewalk. its thick roots push the concrete into broken teeth. it's a slow and useless fight. nobody knows which will break first. i sit on the porch with a beer. i watch people trip on the raised slabs. a guy in a cheap suit stumbles. he drops his newspaper in the dirt. the city will just cut the tree down anyway. they'll pour fresh cement over the hole. right now there's a crushed tallboy. it's wedged deep in the jagged crack.