The Biomass

by J.S. O’Keefe / October 4th, 2026

A strip of moss in the crack
beside a retaining wall.

Pale shoots reaching up
beneath a collapsed fence,
thin roots lift the old pavement;
quiet architecture insisting
on itself.

Survey teams come first,
documenting green life,
mapping the geography of intrusion.

Then
the evening finds
the maintenance crew
on the scene.

They scrape the growth away,
seal it into plastic bags,
and burn it under a permit
that says:
disposal of unauthorized biomass.

J.S. O’Keefe’s short stories, essays and poems have been published in Everyday Fiction, WENSUM, Roi Faineant, 101 Words, Spillwords, AntipodeanSF, 50WS, Friday Flash Fiction, etc. Read other articles by J.S., or visit J.S.'s website.

This article was posted on Sunday, October 4th, 2026 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.