Elaine
How
does one put words together in
the
shape of a white pine newly
freshed
by morning snow?
How
does one bead a bracelet
made
of elk trumpets and
the
flight lines of red-tailed hawks?
How
does one eat a bowl of
sunbaked
scree with a
granite
spoon?
How
does one market the sky
when
it purples for a single
translucent
moment from the far off fire of the sun?
How
does one thank the
swallow
who flew with
the
piece of soul thrown
up
like a prayer from
the
rocky point of it all?
You,
sinewy, non-chalant virgin, taught us well
in
these wild arts.
What
you brought into being---meshugge grace.