Margot, First Among Us

All while you are dying, I am living:
sun burns down through yellow leaves,
steam rises,
earth lies ready to receive.

Air slips into the bellows of our lungs --
that’s all you do now, breathe,
and carry on the hidden chemistries,
while I hear crickets in the field,
tea simmering,
taste apples firm as jicama,
feel floor flat against bare foot.

Giver of gifts, you give this last, to be.
Opener of doors, you open first and go.

From: Old Ladies in the Locker Room and Pool: A Chapbook of Poems
Zane Kotker
Finishing Line Press, June 2011
Find out more or order here.