I read somewhere
that we’ve become
so obsessed
with the way our lawns look
the verdant, featureless green
[bile-inducing, if you ask me]
that we’ve no habitats for the pollinators.
The bees and wasps, butterflies and moths.
So I set aside a corner of the yard
and I let it grow wild.
I had a neighbor ask
“Do you want me to take care of that?”
“No thanks, I want it that way.”

In the fall
I piled all my leaves up
and when my daughter was done jumping
in and running through
I left them there.
They are good compost
and coincidentally-
one of the best habitats for
firefly larvae. You don’t see as many
as you did in the early 2000s.
But in my yard
blinking yellow lights
first one in the neighborhood
early June.