Metamorphosis

let me be Ovid here —

everything changes,
nothing perishes

a woodpecker cavities

a tree snag and calls it home,

a nuthatch climbs in

to share a meal of bugs

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.