Mounting

Mounting 3/21

Ever the optimistic ending - out with a new leaf
bursting through chaff - the peony finally
pulls free - going pink and all the while ants
on their merry way

Impermanence is what I forget - always - sand
mandala of a tulip - hoarfrost breaking over
everything making thousands of eyes in the dawn

New York is filled to the gills with dirt and shit
flowers too - it manages to hold together - some
meandering long-form Canto (cue the sweep of
violins crescendo coming hard)

This is where I talk about the beauty of insects
and mention that on the first warm day of the year
I see the first bee of the year - dead -
on the sidewalk outside my apartment

How's that for hope? - optimism? - take that
fertility! - it was a bumble - not even crushed
soft - breezy - shoulders all shined leather
like armor

I'm thinking about the end of winter - about the
coming cherry trees - I visited my favorites
the other day - weepers in Brooklyn (flowers!
get your hankies!)

I touched their knotty torsos - thought about sex
and smiled at the oak trees clinging to their dead
leaves - I missed the bluebells last year but
the magnolias - damn they screamed

Impermanence - sand - monks sifting sand - making
monuments to not lasting - I can think of no better
not lasting than cherry blossoms - small pink
on the long weeping branches falling like confetti

like perfected light