christine in michigan

vegetables for the big cities
supply the blood with food
pressed into wine, dried and pressed
into the cloth and comes up again quite close,
immense distances away from us.

swells come in and swirl
will people be pushed aside in a few
found in the ruins of ancient cities
where it went in. In again, out again,
fine needles of bone, ivory, gold, and bronze
protect the finger that is pushing the needle
push the blood around.

beginnings: places that preserve one small
building, a neighborhood, an entire town;
each stone helps to support every other stone in
places that preserve customs transplanted
different crops on the same land
their fortunes on the necks and arms.
necklaces of pieces of stone, horn or the teeth
and your home truly you
bones and thread from grass.

Bone is as strong and tough as concrete.
needle is a thin steel shaft with a sharp point.

may 2006