Some words for the week

rust eats metal into red dust

mice chew through wood

walls car wiring chip bags

mold grows on the bread

kept in the paper bag

on the counter beside the stove

moths make holes

in the toes of my ski socks

in the armpit of

any favorite grey green sweater

water runs over the house paint

dulls it from black to grey

the siding slouches in time

the gutter sage

the perfect stack

of curing pine logs

falls into a messy pile

the just cleaned floor is tracked

with mud and snow and dirt

the stove wanes from flame

to red eyed embers to ash

and I do the laundry

knowing my clothes

by the end of the week

will need washing again

but all this is something

more than annoyance

and chores

there is a reminder here

that things were

never meant to last

at least not in one form

the world takes back

what it once put out

inhale as so much dies

as the paint peels

as the pine trees burn

as the snow falls

exhale as so much lives

sprouts from wet dirt

immortality is a fact

old bones feel soil

and the soil feeds the trees

and the trees feed the air

don’t look in the mirror

counting wrinkles

look out the window

at the woods

and see yourself a part

of some splinter of eternity

Alexander Shalom Joseph is a writer from Gilpin County. He is a published author. For more information and to subscribe to Alexander’s Newsletter go to alexandershalomjoseph.com