By CJ Muchhala

by this green planet,

by the moon which casts a silver net over dark water

& by that water’s ebb,

by the osprey’s dive & sea jellies’ eyes,

by people in all their generosity, greed, compassion,

& by their devious or violent ways, by the absurdity

of this corruptible body, by circadian cycles

& human organs, especially the brain

thinking about itself.  Awestruck

by the courting dance of seahorses,

by the roseate spoonbill’s glide,

& by the drop of red in Queen Anne’s Lace,

chicory’s neon-blue, bioluminescence,

the traveling roots of banyan trees,

& the tongues of nectar bats.