For the Rest of the Trees by Christina Gessler

For the Rest of the Trees

by Christina Gessler

published in Black Fork Review, 2021

When the firemen cameand told us to pack what we could they offered us a helpful checklist: passport keys important medications and suchbut staring at the list I thought unkind things about whoever wrote it. Don’t they know? My passport expired three years ago, and all the things that

matter I can’t pack.

When the firemen left

and the red cross camethey offered us each a small water bo...