I still believed tomorrow would be a better day
because, mother, you had given me this

because you never gave up on miracles
because being here was miracle enough

9.

I found the miracles only
after I'd given up on them

It was a miracle that I could whistle back
the black and white spotted shepherd dog named “Spot”

when he chased the wayward sheep back
over the hill, nipping their heels

We ran together from pasture to corral to barn
and it was a miracle he remained my best friend after cuffing

his ears for coming home smelling of skunk and kicking him
for chewing up a green plastic bazooka man

You waited, mother, your whole life, for a miracle
waiting to witness Jehovah's parting of the Red Sea

but missing every day on the ranch
miracles of adaptation and resiliency

like the kangaroo rat that can go its entire life
without drinking water or the spadefoot toad

that burrows into the soil and goes dormant
until vibrations of rain striking the ground awaken it

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