Soil Flora Fauna Fecundity

Reset Poem #4

rhizomes hold
destiny, entwined bacteria
viral loads, symphonic
micro-second 100th
powered new regenerations

seeds of earth
belly of creation
fields left for germination
resetting and recalibrating
free of Frankenstein
triggers, assassins

each droplet, cloud rivers
virus cousins, like under ocean
passages, a million more viruses
sifting light Antarctica
staff of life genomic

tides vents sulfur plumes
amino acids proteins
lifting angiosperms
sailing winds Sahara siroccos
across continents
phytoplankton’s homes
Madagascar lifted into
Minnesota, swift hand
of microbiome, we stand
tall with fungi, bacteria

nothing algorithmic
nothing supercomputerized
no conjuring artificial IQ
blips, we, the lion, they
viruses, us, apes,
fishes, sharks, sea jelly
single cells, no reset by
steel-jawed men
no implosion of quantum
nucleotides, no mother womb
of B-1 bombers, no auntie
ionizing stratosphere, no
uncle of 6 G, no felons
of sixty thousand
orbiting satellites

the evolution will not
be microprocessed, the next
wave will not be mastered
quantum bits, speed of light
digits, memory etched
titanium diamond heads

life is no reset, no devolution
but sailing
transforming, second birth
rising, nothing reptilian
creatures, trillions
in stash, never willing
to envision
creation

Paul Haeder's been a teacher, social worker, newspaperman, environmental activist, and marginalized muckraker, union organizer. Paul's book, Reimagining Sanity: Voices Beyond the Echo Chamber (2016), looks at 10 years (now going on 17 years) of his writing at Dissident Voice. Read his musings at LA Progressive. Read (purchase) his short story collection, Wide Open Eyes: Surfacing from Vietnam now out, published by Cirque Journal. Here's his Amazon page with more published work Amazon. Read other articles by Paul, or visit Paul's website.