Contributor: Matthew D. Laing

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Sweet is the ferocious breath of the ocean years before,
once monolithic pines and ash barren as toothpicks,
splinters dotting grey sheets of steel, iron,
cumbersome clouds; sulfuric, engrossing air streams.

Small orchid of crimson and magenta
pure, innocent –underneath a sinewy board,
its frame. Most precious and pure.

Its emerald stem grows vertically yet is gracefully
pushed back down and towards
dark, dank soil-

and it’s lush green skin begins to corrupt.


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Matthew D. Laing writes from Ottawa, Canada, and often prefers to hike along the dark adjacent mountainside.