published in Spider Dreams 11/19/13
touched by silver spore creep
rotting bark of tattooed limbs
slow dissolve into musty earth
where worms feed, dropping from trees
mushroom kinsmen, sit down
in sensuous green, under quiet fronds
while talking back to spiders
raindrops roll off alabaster caps
like wet kisses of ardent lovers
and crows squawk in the thin light
peering through breathing leaves
of sun cut gashes; dusk walks in
disguised as mountain laurel
