atomic ancestors (20220407)

webs collect
in the shadowed corner
above my head
over my desk

i try not to disturb them

no arachnid artifice
no dried up husks
offered as proof
of services rendered
for peaceful coexistence

just a little electrical charge
a little dust
tracked in from outside
some dead skin cells
the hair from the dogs or
maybe the cat who even now
tries to claw her way
up my leg to settle in my lap
or purring against my chest

these are atomic ancestors
descendants yet unborn
related not by dna
but by nuclear half-life
electron clouds
vibrating strings

no ashes for me after death
for i have spent my life
spreading myself generously
with every itch scratched
and every casual exhalation

Poem 20151222

the water trickled under the fence
at first
carving out a channel
through freshly laid earth
swelling
rising over the edge
of the sidewalk
carrying soil
over the curb
a dirty waterfall
washing down the street
to puddle and waste

the water carried the earth
as the water always carries the earth
eroding it
and making new canyons

the dry riverbed
in sedona
rusty red from being submerged
millions of years ago
now hot and dusty
and waiting for rain
to carry boulders the size of jeeps
over cliffs
dirty waterfalls

earth carried
in the invisible hands
of water