and thought about Colman
an old friend who had just died.
Death comes and goes briefly
whereas decay happens all around us
everywhere all the time.
Decay is part of life
in a way that death is not
and never can be. Without decay
there can be no new growth.
That's why decay and composting provide a sound
basis on which to build in life. You can use compost
to enrich your garden's soil. You can write poems about it.
You can make a career out of it, driving around in a beat up
old van and picking up food scraps from your neighbor's
doorstep.
You can even use compost to build your personal philosophy.
Compost Mentis is the working title for my next book, which
I hope will turn out to be a seminal work in the field of
compost studies. True to the composting ideal, the book will
be a mix of things, a real hodgepodge of poetry and prose,
natural science and philosophy, with a bit of economics and
self-help thrown in for good measure.
Compost Mentis. We live in a decadent age so it's all for the
best that we learn to to make the most of things as they're
falling apart. In short, by way of reply to WB Yeats, here is
the prelude to my new book:
We end up with compost
And the cosmos renewed


