Cargo Cult
On my rooftop garden
between chimneys and antennae
my laundry reveals prevailing winds
my potted plants spell
words of love
to lure you to a landing
I see you crossing
in the morning glinting
in the sun's reflection
and in the evening
back again your belly silver
tinged and setting
I pack water, fertilizer
raised up by block and tackle
runway lines staked out in lime
a conning tower made of ladders
down below a flow of traffic
threading slowly round my island
Where you go or where you're from
are thoughts that will not own an answer
I know you by the shadow light
that dives and arches on my body
by the humming of your power
as you cut, then heal the heavens
You are the stories told at night
around a fire to my children
when you wore the storms as cloaks
and lightning issued from your fingers
when you dropped the billowed flowers
and we feasted on your kindness
Only the youngest and the oldest
hold the hope of your descending
changing legend back to something
not of the mind's invention
wind to wine, memory to bread
hand to hand, mouth to mouth
On my rooftop garden
between chimneys and antennae
my laundry reveals prevailing winds
my potted plants spell
words of love
to lure you to a landing
I see you crossing
in the morning glinting
in the sun's reflection
and in the evening
back again your belly silver
tinged and setting
I pack water, fertilizer
raised up by block and tackle
runway lines staked out in lime
a conning tower made of ladders
down below a flow of traffic
threading slowly round my island
Where you go or where you're from
are thoughts that will not own an answer
I know you by the shadow light
that dives and arches on my body
by the humming of your power
as you cut, then heal the heavens
You are the stories told at night
around a fire to my children
when you wore the storms as cloaks
and lightning issued from your fingers
when you dropped the billowed flowers
and we feasted on your kindness
Only the youngest and the oldest
hold the hope of your descending
changing legend back to something
not of the mind's invention
wind to wine, memory to bread
hand to hand, mouth to mouth