A Nature Poem

Would You Rather

I’d rather trip over spindly tree roots

than a box on a concrete floor.

One more reverent and warm

than the parched other.

The birds and pinecones soften the fall

instead of the plastic wrapped around a

ceramic statue that signifies

the profitable violation of a holiday.

The same sky holds them in place,

but the difference is between

tender or tethered.
When crackling twigs break my fall,

when I’ve finally gained my footing on the

tangled outcropping in fertile soil,

I still leave unguarded.

I still leave with an unbroken spirit.