image by author copyright 2018

Effluvium

we are living secretions
expelling exhaust fumes.

chunks of our bodies
fall off and pollute

rivers, forests, parking lots .
pieces placed carefully into

avian nests — tiny puzzles
of fingernails, hairs and

plastic straws. our detritus,
plenty useful because there is plenty.

we shed out of ourselves
and into new versions

which are just as dirty.
yet we yearn, always,

to be new again.
to be clean.