Poem for Monday and Huntley Meadows

Dusting
By Marilyn Nelson

Thank you for these tiny
particles of ocean salt,
pearl-necklace viruses,
winged protozoans:
for the infinite,
intricate shapes
of submicroscopic
living things.

For algae spores
and fungus spores,
bonded by vital
mutual genetic cooperation,
spreading their
inseparable lives
from equator to pole.

My hand, my arm,
make sweeping circles.
Dust climbs the ladder of light.
For this infernal, endless chore,
for these eternal seeds of rain:
Thank you. For dust.

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I sorted beads and reorganized craft stuff downstairs and have no idea how it got to be nearly midnight so I shall keep this short. We had a nice low-key Sunday; got leaves off the deck, read a decent amount of the paper, then after lunch we went to Huntley Meadows, where the amphibians and reptiles were hibernating for the season but we saw lots of evidence of beaver activity, plus little fish and plenty of waterfowl:















We stopped at CVS (had planned Trader Joe's but found out my mother had already gotten the tofurkey we were going to buy), came home for dinner, and caught up on the Once Upon a Time mid-season finale a week late, still wishing Snow would shut up but I love that it was all about women saving and obsessing over women with the men largely sidelined, even if I want more Swan Queen, less Frozen! And no pre-Thanksgiving snow!