The Compost Surprised Us

Honolulu, O‘ahu

A pile of unholy odds: we chucked in

bowlfuls of rinds, pits, shells and

already-rotting vegetables, and forgot

to turn it, and Brian once wondered aloud

over beer and tacos: is anything, you know,

happening out there?

The day we finally shoveled to the black

bottom, we too were transformed

by the rich, dark, beetle-starred soil,

alchemy of new beginnings.

We had never thought the work

could be done so simply upon us:

every piece rejoining the earth

by an inevitable gravity;

the earth promising ends,

and, after,

loam.