by Leah Mueller

dry pod releases
seeds to air,
one by one,
until each particle

dissolves. now,
brown and gaunt,

it waits to fall.
I understand the
urge to remain:

a miracle
to quiver
in a windstorm,

but not crumble
into pieces.

supernatural act,
repeated each day
while nobody
watches: still,

I glance up
from my desk
just as the pod

breaks from its
stem and soars
towards deliverance.

sky opens
its insatiable mouth.

Leah Mueller is an indie writer and spoken word performer. She has published books with numerous small presses. Her most recent volumes, Misguided Behavior, Tales of Poor Life Choices (Czykmate Press), Death and Heartbreak (Weasel Press), and Cocktails at Denny’s (Alien Buddha Press) were released in 2019. Leah’s work also appears in Blunderbuss, The Spectacle, Bad Pony, Outlook Springs, Atticus Review, Your Impossible Voice, and other publications. She won honorable mention in the 2012 Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry contest.