Open Other End

In the land of toothpicks
glue was precious

so were softness
and the fatness of hors d'oeuvres

and colors
and fantastic designs of longing for roundness —

songs for Ponderosas and thistles,
sketches for hedgehogs, porcupines.

In the land of picks, toothless
babes and leaf buds burned dreams

into the heartwood of stumps.
And among roots still living

underground, where hearts turn green
for new mouths,

the humblest creatures busied
themselves with saw-and-glue work.

There, even now, they open
their minute darknesses to hem

and haw old spells
toward an other end.

Copyright © 2007 Muriel Nelson All rights reserved
from Pebble Lake Review
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission