[Describe a tree without using color]

Right on my doorstep there's a tree. It's trying to be a tree, anyway. Half
of it is clinging onto the concrete of the stoop, and the rest doesn't have
that much room either. The dirt's poor and the roots get trampled every time
someone goes around the building. Every spring, though, it leafs out, and
since it's the only tree on the block, I really notice.

It's got two trunks, and a shard of what was probably a third sticking out
of it. The top trunk is leaned out a little, almost climbing the wall, tall
and thin like the drab surface will protect it from the street. The other
branch makes the tree look a little like a Laurel and Hardy duo, it's short
and wide and juts out right over the sidewalk. It gets kicked and bruised by
the passers-by, and the top trunk seems to smirk at it from its relative
shelter.

The base of the tree is always a muddy mess -- it's a rainy city, and
there's nowhere for the water to go, really, so it pools around the cracked
foundation and makes a puddle over the loose dirt around the roots.