Charmed
       

Little statue of Ganesh: you are the Lord
of Obstacles

and Beginnings. Carry me
over the rocks

and burning asphalt to the bright circle
of wisdom.

There are dead insects in reasonable condition,
and if you mount them

properly, you'll hardly see the damage
from the grille.

We'll never all agree, not on everything
and not on this: air

holds nothing but a pledge.
Criticism

is for indoors, for piano teachers and parents,
not for this

broad sunlight and not for love. The secret:
make sure

the injuries don't show. I need a map
and a lot of luck,

so I carry charms and use them. Evil eye,
ward off

the obsequious. If such things are possible
in the confusion

of myth, say nothing. You must unbuild yourself
and reassemble

into a more pleasing shape: a teardrop, a fin,
a trunk, a mole.

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Copyright © 2012 Margot Schilpp All rights reserved
from Civil Twilight
Carnegie Mellon University Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission