7.16.2010

LICHEN LOVER

If it had them, yes I would
Shake a lichen’s hand. Not
Yours, who must cohabitate
In villas in Paris or Rome--

They live on tombstones in Irkutsk
And Riyadh; in slag heaps; on
Boulders surrounded by desert
Or ice; only primitives thrive?

Remember the terrorized doe
You left in a cab in Biloxi?
(“Two shall become one flesh!”
They were on the Mount, but

Fungal and alga components
Don’t have to listen to bipeds--
Theirs is the purest Christian marriage
Since evolution began:

Mycobiont and photobiont move
Perfectly, like left-hand staccato
Balancing right-hand legato
In the D major prelude by Bach.

Too bad you're a joyful noise.)
I’m still in that cab in Biloxi,
Far from lichens--Thanks to you,
Music’s a shattering dish.

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