Collapsed

by Diane Webster

The half-collapsed building
opens its insides
like a hundred-year-old
tree consumed by termites
and exposed.

Cellular apartments
crumble to sawdust
flowing downward
in a mudslide pull
fanned around roots.

Patches of tangles
flutter in the breeze;
fingertips cramp,
legs flail.
Ledges fray,
footholds perish.

The building, the tree
sit disemboweled
watching themselves
pass away.