Cracks in the pavement

Cracks in the pavement

A sidewalk joke,
I see her sprawled,
Felled by a banana skin,
Life's unfairness,
Old age, infirmity?
No. It's the pavement,
Shoddy workmanship,
Subsidence -
A fault in our society, at some level.
The ruptured integument
of our Cartesian, rectilinear, masculine, hierarchical society
Offers unwanted purchase to even her most sensible of heels,
And her quivering, rouged, bruised face
Rests ashamed on the evidence of our failing.
See how nature mocks our progress:
The bears-will-eat-you gridlines
Overlain and superceded - ignored -
By a cobweb lacework
Of cracks, feminine and organic,
Frilly dancing.

The raised corner of a flagstone
Is the only protest
The old order can offer.
It takes its revenge,
But already a sprig of green flags nature's triumph.

When we are gone,
Our buildings rubble, our pavings shattered,
Nature will reclaim her own.
Every crack will bear flowers.