Detritus          for Vilma Mendillo

Single Ginko leaf on stem

Lies fragile under my seat

In physical therapy Waiting

Room.

What a journey leaf's made--

Adhered to someone's shoe

Or wheelchair rim, then left behind

On vinyl floor surrounded

By faux rings of time--

Oh 

Ever-new fossil,

Papery thin

Beside

This tremoured limb,

You've endured calamity,

Outlived monsters--

Laura Stickney 2025

notes:

detritus-- Dead organic material

from ecosystem

Ginko bilboa is the last living

species in the order Ginkgoales,

which first appeared over 290

million years ago

photograph of found Ginko leaf,

2024, by Laura Stickney