The squirrel plants the nut
of the tree it most loves.
The human plants the corn.
The mouse stuffs milkweed tufts
into its nest and surrounds the seeds
with pee and turds.
The human fracks gas and fertilizes the corn.
The tree drops leaves to nourish its own roots.
The spider makes a web of its own body.
The human makes a hybrid of the corn.
The finch grows a beak to crack seeds.
The human engineers the corn.
The eucalyptus poisons a circle around its trunk
so no other tree will grow.
The human turns its chemical weaponry against all but corn.
The wasp makes a gall for its home.
The beetle gnaws the tenderest bark.
The beaver fells whole trees.
The human makes a machine
to flatten the forest
and patents the tree.
Acid rains down.
The human looks up.
Meanwhile, in the ground, the worm turns waste to soil,
and the mushroom turns poison wondrous.
And the mycorrhiza draws sweetness from the fir
and feeds it to the fir-shaded birch,
making the whole forest healthier.
A human plunges fingers into the webbing.
(in the food forest on a shiitake log)
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