Nature Poem

Yesterday it was marsh marigolds
by the river with my mother
and in the afternoon forsythia
with Chris

                  (he dislikes it)
and today it is grass again
with ants departing

                                 or heading
towards each other to exchange
whatever message

                                 Church bells
are literally ringing and then
oh my god the train

                                  and jesus christ a butterfly
lovely brown with off-white tips
and every now and then irregular
lavender spots

                         It’s not necessary

to write everything down

When a creature quietly tends
to itself

              I am happy
and by extension earlier I thought
for actually a very long time
about ants and the impossibility
of ant masturbation

They do not love themselves enough
They only love each other