Towns

I’ve seen children baptized by force

roped and dragged down
to the water's edge
and across to the other side.

Some exit this life in a similar way

each door frame
the place they have turned their backs.

No one can step in the same river twice

Soul says the twisted body Open

a rim bone
a market

a mecca

a page

The world is high places and low places

seascapes

tabernacles

childhood chants

skulls in the grasp of great tree roots

smoke on the mountain

steam from skin.

Wisdom says go back another way

I’ve seen rivers change course, shocked.