This is a love poem

for the earthworm, its series of hearts—
     for the primordial coelacanth
          off Africa’s coast—

for a tufted titmouse’ rust colored
     flanks—symmetry of snow
          crystals, spectrum of light—

for redbud, crepe myrtle, eager
     magnolia, and the last green leaf
          on a dying ash—for weeping

cherry’s scarlet blooms, fragrant
     viburnum, and snakeskin
          lining chickadee nests— 

It’s for sycamore buds, the thirst
     of chives, a tangle of jasmine,
          and snapdragon’s whorl

of snappable flowers—for fissure,
     crevice, anemone bouquets, microbe,
          marmot, a forest of kelp—

it’s for hunger, necessity, longing
     and night—the darkness of earth,
          and the beginning of life.

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