My Son, an Intern, Shows Me an X-ray of a Patient’s Lungs
And I see air pockets stranded in pond-ice
after a hard freeze.
I see the lake breathing,
the algal bottom releasing
methane bubbles –
The bones of the thoracic spine
bend with what is carried.
The right lung is occluded –
the milky shade of slush.
There is still one deep pool
of black ice in the left lung
large enough to reflect a star.
There is still one well of hope.
I ask my hope to ferry me
down – down – a water lily
tuber rooting in the void.
I think of the hole
god made in Adam’s
side, that maelstrom
from which we are plucked –
toward which we go.
by Kathryn Weld
from Ecotheo Review
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