Fables

So now—tell me what you are
to lay long vowels like bricks
thatching hearthouses with straw
then huffing down what sticks

     I am a grim wolf’s brother


Well now—tell me where you are
that you groan green evening’s thickets
gleaning crumbs that glimmer in craw
though gingerbread protests

     In the saline freshet, north of despair


There now—tell me who you are
upright, unclimbable tower
twisting melodies into lengths of hair
that you never lower

     I am Shekkinah