my chin

sinking slow

in mud

faint smell

of urine, firecrackers

and

the beginning of life

i begin to

understand

the centipedes, slugs,

earthworms, roots

why ants are called armies

and why the earth

swallows its dead

half in

half out

my skull sprouting

scottish moss

i hear

the world breathe

-slow and steady-

i undulate

toe to top

one wave

lasting a year

i am the host

of rolling ferns

creeping thyme

flowering dogwood

out of my spine

and a nest

of baby birds

on top of what was

once my head

and when the wind

blows

i am reminded

with each cold blast

why we do

not belong