Autumn

America is full of living things
They shoot from stems and crawl on every wall,
They sprout with skinny legs and bony wings
And when the night comes down they claim their sprawl
And sew the landscape with their crazy force
In crooked stitches, woven smells and scales,
And dung, and shed skin, writing out the source
Of life: decay, and all that it entails.
Life builds upon the rich and fertile death
Of life, the country buzzes, is renewed.
I suck sweet nature in with every breath
And my skin and my heartbeat will include
My thanks, in prayer unnoticed and unplanned
For all the bugs and beauty of this land.