Gall and Horsetail by Miriam Sagan

white galls
on bits of twig
I wonder what
I’m trying to hatch
(often it frightens me)

galls are hard to the tap
inside larvae
will lie quiescent
all winter
give forth
picture wing flies
who mimic
jumping spiders–

I’ve survived this way too
appearing tougher than I am
although I don’t have wings
just my rough mouth

horsetail

moon
3 days
past full
old scat
turned white
on the path

dazzle of dew
across a field
of feathery seeded grass
highway noise

segmented horsetails behind me
sectioned like bamboo
very old plant form–flowerless
(need to look it up)
once were huge
when reptiles walked giant
and what I call New Mexico
didn’t have a name

this grass might still be nameless
dew is difficult to write about
I need to avoid Tinkerbell fairy princess
or zen ephemeral life fades etc.
what is it–
more light than water