Starting Over: Neighborhood Compost

Here we are. At the end
of the line. Or could it
be a new beginning?
Even if we can’t start over,
some of these old things can.
Yesterday’s fishbones.
The stack of newspapers
that piled up in the hall
this week. Eggshells
and the bread crusts
Ginny insists we cut
off. I’m even throwing
in a few brown leaves
from last fall that I never
got around to raking up.
It’s like those old stews
our Nana used to make
on Sundays with what-
ever had been leftover
from the week past:
chickpeas and lemon
grass, green beans
and chicken stock.

Starting Over: Neighborhood Compost

A bowl always renewed
my spirits. Just so, our
old stuff will get stirred
in with others’, mingle
essences, enrich each
other, and nourish new
growth and a future.