Why We Should Care

The stump of a tree cut down years ago, finally 
softened, has become host to mycelia

Sometimes the smell of grilled meat floats over these houses

On the news tonight, hundreds of dairy cows infected with avian flu

My eye doctor tells me the names of chickens she keeps— Betsy, Trixie, Daisy; one shares the name of one of my daughters

Mornings, just before my husband wakes me, I lose the thread of 
a dream

One weekend we buy a tub of pork blood; I wonder why the label 
is pork blood instead of pig blood but we will make
a traditional stew

I like "very hard" crosswords; they have interesting 
words like abscissa

When I slap a mosquito sucking on the skin of my shoulder, I wonder 
if the blood is mine or someone else's

We're all part of the same cellular network  

It is the year of the snake and some have taken power 
that isn't theirs  
  
Every spore, every bloodstained stone, every word we protect 
and won't give surender

Look at the moths that arrow night after night 
into basins of uncollected light