Well Bottom Blues

“I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head”
— “Song of Wandering Aengus,” W.B.Yeats

So I went out to the forest and forgot to change my shoes and decided just to walk in my slides wearing these open-toed bamboo brace things for my Achilles, trying not to catch anything between my toes. I also forgot to change out of my pajamas, my beloved polyester stripey Dollar store Gangsta shorts so I’ll guess I’ll be extra sweaty. That is just the way things go at that forgetful age.

I’ve been following the decomposition of this log for a while. It recently split in half and I imagine that will speed up its slow decay into papery loam. At my age I take an interest in how things go, how they return to Earth, much as I am fascinated by the persistent twisty shapes remaining on dead leafless things, a wooden poetry for posterity.