Settling Down

© Matthew Word Bain

Drawn in by the concentration of darkness beneath an overgrown spur, I find nature busily abhorring a vacuum as Lonicera encircles the Ailanthus rising up from this abandoned space. I am fascinated by this interface — the decay of anthropogenic features giving way to the relentless emergence of new life, ever undeterred by what humans cannot withstand for long.

beneath an elevated railbed
reaching out from darkness
New growth fed by remnants
of cargo spilt long before

it is always in the spaces
all others have abandoned
after using and depleting
that these “invasives”
make their homes

would we begrudge them
this simple shelter where
not only do they no harm
they begin the process
of restoring what others
have endeavored to destroy

there is but one
invasive species
and it walks upright
when it is not driving