I have been writing more poems this spring...

It is all a matter of life and death

The light bulb

The water in the faucet

The cells sloughing off the inside of my uterus

The tiniest scratch

Buying a t-shirt

Picking up a bottle of whiskey

The drugs, the asphalt, the road, the potholes

The cars rolling

The sheets of metal

The mountains

that have left this world

to give us coal.

And the rabbit,

the squirrel and snail who were not born because there is no home for them.

It is all a matter of life and death.

Every weapon made or skirt sown

Every word you utter

Dish you wash

Every prayer or curse

Lick of ice cream

Red dye number one

Or 5 or 7

Photos in frame or memory

or story of poison mushrooms

beware, watch out

it all matters

It is all real

It is all as important as the president elect

as the baby being born

and the body shattered by the force of impact.

It all matters.

It all melts away,

and into

it all ripples on.