Wherever she has not been,
land is bare & dripping
chemicals.  Ground skews,
trees sag, bear & shrew
have fled, no beetle clicks.

Where she is soil crouches
thick & loamy, held by tree
roots like old arms, permafrost
keeps its secrets, frosty lips sealed,
reefs swell brown & blue with algae
like patina’d coins.

Where she is hums, rustles,
purrs & roars—giraffes sing
under moon, corn snake
creeps among leaves,
hyena lows above tall grass,
alligator bellows from bayou.

Where she sets out to, hard earth
trembles for her touch & milkweed
waits to be planted. All things green,
furry, feathered, scaled, petaled, chitined,
perch at edges of vision, ready to take over
at her slightest efforts—  

a wave of hand throwing seed,
a brow sweating over red hot
poker & bee balm, a heart
bleeding for every stem,
each body she cannot save.

Good thing there’s more than one of her.