an unfolding

open paper crane beginning
with crease in neck

open sticky bun
to sweet lotus heart
and hair-brain to feathered-lung

open longitudinal study lengthwise
            —let inhabitants roam free

open iron jaw
and tight-fisted misunderstanding

open crumpled poem
still trashed
still wasted 

open each and every sleepy-eyed pistachio
so they too can see the sun

our short story

a beginning
covered in algae
eating starlight
shedding waste
toxic oxygen, creating life
dependent on havoc
sustaining and killing
in one blow
and there we were
just a cluster of cells
on the brink of a big decision
we ate the algae
including its defenses
— so much easier than beginning again
fast forward
a billion years
or two
and we’re still here
pursuing the end
or doggedly
being pursued
by it.