POEM: LOOSE LEAF

A poem for the last leaves
of my classroom ivy

It is those in our care
who mirror what is hiding

What hides within
what we can't see

I watered my plant each day
every week

This is what I promised
but I stopped

When time stretched
like skin and time

Too great a force
to catch a reminder

Too small a task
Too great a blind spot

Emotional
I often eat

When I feel I've lost control
of my scheduled feet

But these weeks I forget
to eat and confess

That the ivy and I
wear away at the same regress

Four leaves
four hours I waste

Unable to convert seeds
to ways

In with mouths can mingle
with land fruit

Where skins can tingle
like liberated flutes

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images by: https://unsplash.com/@cipriann