and maybe all dirt
is really the stuff of graves
for everything now
stands on what was here before
I’m so young but still
I’ve seen so many places
that are gone
whether it’s fire
or retirement
or gentrification
or just people giving up
so much of what I knew as here
exists only in my memory now
that greenhouse
that breakfast spot
where I was born
where I went to preschool
I guess everything fades
I guess time tears it all down
but what a strange thing
to be human
to find things
that make us feel like we belong
that shelter us from
everything else
only to have those things
be bulldozed
for new condos
or to sit as empty lots
the dirt holding so much memory
us holding so much too
our heads so quickly
full up only
of thoughts of what we lost
only to stumble on
into what we will
soon come to know
and what will no sooner
disappear

Alexander Shalom Joseph is an award-winning poet, writer and playwright from Gilpin County, and is the author of seven published books. You can find his work and more information about him at www.alexandershalomjoseph.com.