Depositing Worms in the Compost Bin

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DEPOSITING WORMS IN THE COMPOST BIN


They might have looked at each other 

with watery eyes and whispered


something like “can you believe 

our luck:” egg shell, coffee


grounds, a rotten head of lettuce 

steamed in grass clippings, all this


and more before them in a blue 

feed barrel, mist slipping through 


drain holes with the smell of next year’s

vegetables, hot and thick. But more 


likely they didn’t say a word 

of gratitude or even surprise at their


undeserved fortune. More likely 

they wriggled from the palm, falling

 

to another day of mindless consumption

and shitting on the gift, an act of such open  


defiance that nothing less than long-sitting

love could turn into a garden.


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