Triptych of Salvation

Triptych of Salvation

I.                 Think about the Wind

After the storm and floor turtle went missing, coyote

Howled from higher in the hills. Hooved ones moved

Safely to higher ground instinctively and were saved,

But finned ones had no choice but swimming. Winged

Ones miraculously found thickets or hummocks here

Or there, burrowing as if they are lighter than air itself.

The two-leggeds walked about in clusters, they being

The ones who never listened but thought about it a lot.

II.               Find the Dream

Rejoice; despair is the natural void at the end of your

Imagined journey, but if you go back to the place you

Thought it began and start to read the new words on that

Page, a meteor shower tears through, upper right to lower

Left, floaters or whatever but some celestial beings have

Come and we must take notice. Even in the desert some

Things tumble through, some wind or some sun will rise.

Toward the end of night a memory of deep time crawls in.

III.             Feed the World

Chill continent’s width of cirrostratus cloud in winter wind;

Shape into fresh halibut filets with cold fronts as rolling pins.

Rack up at the top of the sky on square sheets of generosity;

Roll slowly under the broiler of the sun for half an afternoon.

Invite the nearest child to fill a balloon with cherubic wishes;

Do not fail to find a grandparent that remembers how to bless.

Stop thinking about the emptiness than you can’t fill; take on

The ferocity of any rickshaw puller in Dhaka, serve with pride.