Toxic Drift

“Mimosa” means sentient beings,
wild trees with consciousness emitting
from sensitive leaves. Exiled from ordained
Edens, these outcasts took root in my yard.

Bees that were vanquished for years,
like Israelites in the desert,
return to this untilled half acre,
anoint in blossoms exhaling
scent of the promised land.

But there are no borders for breezes
bearing a neighbor’s poison.

Leaves fold in warning
of a treacherous homecoming. Choreographed steps that tell seekers
the covenant manifests in my backyard oasis
break sequence. The faithful succumb to fatal
dysrhythmia.

The dance of life ceases.
Exodus perennial.

By Claire Massey

Claire Massey is Poet Laureate for Pensacola branch, national Pen Women. She co-edited the 2019 issue of Emerald Coast Review. Recent work appears or is forthcoming in Persimmon Tree, The Avalon Literary Review, The Dead Mule and Panoply. Ecology poetry which inspires others to act is an important pursuit.