The Ins and Outs of Topiary Hierarchy by Evan Cozad

The topiary animals come to life at night. Each of them able to uproot themselves without any struggle. The lion, the elephant, and the duck participate in a social club together. It’s a very exclusive thing. They never invite the dog or the rabbit to join. But they eat their baklava and drink their tea in full view of them. Those three are very classy like that. Often the dog will read novels to itself on the far side of the garden. Sometimes it will read to the rabbit. Sometimes the rabbit doesn’t like being read to and buries its head in the mulch under the willow. But when the sun comes up, each one of them gives up, re-roots, and goes back to being a regular topiary animal. Their garden becoming steady again like a button sown into the eye of the world.

Evan Cozad is a poet from Indiana. He just graduated from university and is looking to move somewhere. His work has been featured some places across the Internet.

Photo by Maxwell Young