Poem: Deep in the Woods

 

 

Deep in the Woods

 

ants raid the corpse of a bee

near a branch sprawled

like a fallen madonna.

 

mushrooms rear, white-knuckled,

to ride a cratering stump

of irretrievable wounds.

 

everywhere the headless husk

of some gutted spruce

earns no special attention.

 

the quiet floor of leaf-and-root

moulders from a truancy

of porous ghosts.

even the youngest of sprites, 

the ferns,

 

fan vegetal pharaohs

below a granite ridge  

destined to tackle pines.

 

only a few trunks left,

wind-whipped as the arms of titans

beseeching a fillet of clouds--

 

and blue agnostic heaven.

the moon is heaven! 

crickets purr from their rot-rouged niche.

 

the moon,

sideways smile of night,

it comes to eat another day 

while season devours season

and the footfalls of lovers and jesters

prance over the bones.

===============

3/26/26 ...more edits

mods after posting ...deep into the night...