If I were a betting woman
my money would be on you
resident of Old Faithful
lingerer on a deep-sea vent
tolerant of Death Valley I bet
you are doing just fine in Salem,
Oregon June of 2021 I doubt
this weather is phasing you
at all, minute though you are
naked to my eye so small
but fierce like the vireo
defending her eggs from a
foraging jay – I watched her
as she dove and dove again
pushing him back
hunger makes us do things –
all of us and I see the
hunger coming when the soil
turns to powder so fine you
wonder where the seeds are
when everything turns to
dust
*An organism that can survive in really hot environments, 140 degrees Fahrenheit and upwards.
Anne's mediocre poetry 