ORCHESTRA

it takes an intelligent computer to make a photo of dirt
but dirt is not soil
and even if it was
you can’t plant a seed in a photograph.

for a long time we didn’t know
that trees fix nitrogen into the soil to feed other plants,
that networks of mycelia communicate under the forests,
that living soil–teeming with worms and grubs and shit
is what sequesters carbon from the atmosphere.

it’s not a competition for sunlight at all,
it’s an orchestra,
with natural intelligence,
an understanding of harmony,
and a spirit sense.

our technology is growing 
at the expense of our decay
and its hard to keep up with its ruthless, mechanical pace.

what was ever wrong with the pace of, say, an elderberry tree?