Ecology

There’s a maple by the water
that like all the other broad leafs
was late to the party this year

and it’s already dropping leaves
just one or two in the weird
heavy southeasterlies

and one of those just plopped
into the pollen yellow surf
making its way to me on the foam

and the merest hint
of its fate is a petiole that
arcs an unfortunate angle

and the thin green membrane
spread by familiar veins
is chlorophylluminescent

and I’m sad or something
because the cells cannot
apprehend their doom.