Loose on Earth
Gary Snyder (from Dangerous Peaks, 2004)

A tiny spark, or
the slow-moving glow on the fuse
creeping toward where
ergs held close

in petrol, saltpeter, mine gas,
buzzing minerals in the ground,
and waiting.

Held tight in a few harsh words
in a dark mood,
in an old shame.

Humanity,
	said Jeffers, is like a quick

explosion on the planet
we're loose on earth
half a million years
our weird blast spreading --

and after,
rubble -- millennia to weather
soften, fragment,
sprout, and green again