what the devil is a sentence tree baba asks so i show her the diagram the words the branches give me a sentence i’ll show you and she says today’s the fortieth are you coming and i write it out noun verb determiner noun without answering her and she shakes her head what nonsense you young people you can’t tend to a sentence make it grow and i’m not in the mood it’s finals week i gotta pass can’t lose my scholarship don’t want hands like baba’s stripped of their prints don’t want crooks of elbows like mom’s either so i say yes yes you can and baba says fine grow me a new word then and i say ok what about a noun that means somebody you love irritating you to hatred and baba says oh two can play that game i sow a verb that means actively not saying somebody’s name even though you miss her and i say are you talking about mom i don’t want to what the actual and she says diagram that go on and also that’s the first time you’ve mentioned her since and i say let’s plant an interjection that means she gave up on us so we should give up on her and baba says oh darling not every living thing thrives in the sun and i write i’m not coming and baba points to it over my shoulder says pronoun verb adverb verb.
“the sentence tree” is a finalist in The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest 2025.
