by Michael Brownstein
–after the Shamanistic Theory of Three Souls and the reading of the bones when a ram is sacrificed
When sleep is not a promise,
and the witness tree fills itself with ants,
the break in the collarbone
is never enough
or it may be as plentiful as salt,
fire and coal, hot ash, burnt offerings,
a splintering of heat cutting
one perfect line.
Near the necessity of gallows,
one person is always capable,
the wood latched with rope,
the briar patch thick with fat,
someone, somehow, caught
on the path of superstition
Category: Poetry, SNHU Creative Writing, SNHU online creative writing