Al Milanese

sounds like someone’s shoveling outside
hear it
                    scrape scrape
the gravel moves aside
make room for the body
was it Hamlet or Macbeth?

the skull rolls around
static joints bone to bone
arthropods are tougher
living only a short time
breeding quickly
digging our graves they say
instead of destroying nature
ALTER
they know what we’re doing
they adapt

The marble tombstones I remember

discovering
don’t last forever
wash away
decay of man sets the pace
preserving monuments
illusion of permanence.