a crucial part of the Trinity—our mother Mary
who came to resemble the Holy Ghost?

My own Godlike arrogance took hold of a sturdy stick
to provoke dumb confusion in a hill of red ants

so it seemed only natural that our whole lives
would be stirred up by really nothing personal

13.

We'd already lost one home to an angry nature
and it would be years before I learned

some disasters you carry around
rot from the inside out

creating twisted black cavities
hardening into boils

sores you hide with long-sleeved shirts
sores that won't go away until pinched open

healing over into cratered scars
on adolescent skin

On February mornings in muck up to our knees
my new father and I held our vigil until blood-slick calves

dropped into melting drifts and we watched the cow
lick them clean, watched them wobble

to their feet and find a teat
Though believing we were in control

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