GROUND

That great day dandelion flames in the east

as its night globe is phased out to seed,

and gardens grow aphids, stones, and weeds.

I’m pleased.  Loud hosts

of bushtits feast, dew gleams

on stubborn trail markers, and feathered seeds stray

into thunder-headed skies where they will—like freed

oxygen, like true heresies—  

make way. 

These will be  

for the life

of them, and you, and me.

Muriel Nelson's publications include two poetry collections: Part Song, winner of the Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Book Prize (Bear Star Press), and Most Wanted, winner of the ByLine Chapbook Award (ByLine Press).  Her work also has appeared in numerous journals, including Barrow Street, Beloit Poetry Journal, Massachusetts Review, National Poetry Review, New Republic, Northwest Review, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, and others.