Conversation

Why is it we talk only of death:
a mother, friend,
or even a mongrel dog?
What is the need?

The weeds in the sidewalk are blooming.

Why not the birds and the bees,
songs and poems and stories,
maybe, even, fleas?

Back pages feature stories of poverty,
addiction,
climate warming, earthquakes and disease,
but front pages war…

Why is it we cannot take joy
from beauty that blooms around us,
but must destroy
happiness wherever we find it?