Autumn Pi
Rain on desert ears has the
Nostalgic ring of ancient
Canyons, striae revealed
In layers of eras, reality
Visible over eons where
Water knew its way.
Maybe we’ll wake
Tomorrow, the hot sun
Returned to its high autumn
Zenith, symptom of the
Sickness humans have
Inflicted on everything
Natural around them–
Trees, air, water, animals
Earth’s great oceans all
Poisoned with plastic,
Suffocated, hexed in
Chemicals, save us
From ourselves, our
Hubris and our short-
Sighted nature
Perhaps it is only the
Infinite that keeps me
Sane these days, makes
Me whole, returns me
To my place between
Stars and atomic particles
Sun-burnished sandstone and
Outer space, reminding me
With all our furious machinations
Good and ill, humans have never
Found a round number for Pi,
The circumference of the universe
“My Business is Circumference” Emily Dickinson
Plastic
Driving into the ever-early sunset,
East, city streets, wet from rain
moments ago, just passed,
In the waning light
Street lamps begin to wink on
A turkey vulture rides a thermal
High above the traffic light, black,
Feathery, flighty, I’m surprised
To see such a bird here,
Metropoli, humanity, all scrummed
Together in ever-growing towers
Towns, I look away from the bird
To the arrowed light, dictating a
Turn, the bird takes another
Breeze, it’s moving on to
Other climes, no, there is
No bird. The black specter,
An airborne plastic bag
Paper
A fearless paper
Advocate, let decay the very
Lines I hold so dear
Refined + Rugged 