the cat sits
& stares out at
the pouring rain
pungent earth
beads sparkle
on velvet green
daylily orange
black-eyed susans
yellow as sun
mice motor
between tufts
a groundhog
stands to nibble
tops of weeds
harmonizing
to phoebe, vireo
flicker, crow
the cat chitters
moans miaows
heaven, he muses
must be a world
where I’ll be
out there too
when I pluck a millipede from the porch floor
it curls to a tight ball, & I fling it
outside, where no doubt
it lands somewhere & eventually
(how long? how does its timer work?)
it uncurls & crawls away
exactly what will my behavior be
when something ten thousand times larger
plucks me up & flings me out?
since while this removal occurs
neither the millipede nor I speak
can any observer call either of us
a higher life form?
the groundhog, if she hurries away
when I edge closer to her
out in the meadow —
the phoebe, when she shelters
a second clutch of eggs
high in the rafters —
the leafed-out elms
branches like emerald platters
& a silken swish if wind
pushes them away —
lightning bugs in rain
can morph you from a body in bed
to a vessel reaching port, your sails ablaze
erase electronics from everyone’s hands
then watch us, how we stare down into our cupped
palms, how our thumbs & fingers tap at air
how all of us are emptied
unsynced, as alone in the world
as we were before devices, forced to wait
to find out what happens, to attend to the here
the present, to follow ourself
quiet, alone, far from the madding crowd
