SOMETIMES AN IDEA

Decay isn’t the word I was thinking

when I first saw the base of the tree 

with the green of mildew, not of growth

and promotion and flourishing.

Molder...

That’s the word exactly.

It’s not the same with a dandelion that’s finished

and breaking down...

disintegrating...

coming apart...

There is the beginning of new life...

Growth.

The seeds will be carried away 
to fertile lawns and roadsides

mostly by summer breezes

and also by animals...

Cats maybe.

There’s a yellow cat that lives outside here,

not feral, but not domesticated either.

It comes onto our back porch

and I suspect to other porches, too,

to watch sometimes

what goes on in houses...

but isn’t persuaded to live in one.