Goners and the Becoming

there is an afterlife in these high branches spirit bears watch as tracks appear and vanish men who walk around trees become women but only when the tree is old enough to seed other wombs days forgotten and missed stack up against barbwire fences the yet to be born will bulldoze and unstack in Thailand we climbed the 200 stone steps in the heat of the day monkeys chattered at us from ghost houses where incense rose for those who live only last moments the polished stone Buddha smiles thanking us for the long trek tells us in a thousand languages that we are but one step on a journey one that will not be recorded until we are free of the thought of being temple monkeys howl in approval a power stations electrified guts spills its timebomb seeds waits for the last fizzle of the goners and the becoming lifetimes lay in state under rusting backhoes generations glimmer aluminum eyes buried deep in the softening soil we cannot recall what we were or foresee what we can be only keep watching the layers grow the mounds rise and fall as a world excavates time with its little pink paws