Metamorphosis

let me be Ovid here —
omnia mutantur, nihil interit
everything changes,
nothing perishes

a woodpecker cavities
a tree snag and calls it home,
a nuthatch climbs in
to share a meal of bugs
a dead tree is an
infinite hotel

ambrosia beetles check in —
in love with the sapwood’s alcohol
they tunnel into rot and fungus
voles visit, eat the log’s mushrooms,
spit spores that
enrich soil for saplings

bracket fungus
hollowed holey guts
mossy bark — unlovely
but this dead wood
throbs — it’s alive

a dead tree is an infinite hotel, Richard Powers, The Overstory
 
 
By Marilyn Mazur
 
As an outdoor enthusiast, Marilyn Mazur feels blessed to have a home in Vermont where she is in touch with everything nature has to offer every day. Poetry writing inspires her to look more closely and feel more deeply. She writes mostly about nature, family and social issues.

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