HYPNOGOGIC MORNING WHILE EARTH IS BURNING

Kristen Lenea Ryberg

i like edges     crusts of bread.

a woman tweets the face of Jesus singed on morning toast.

belief
 
there is a face on the moon     a face on a flower.
 
if any one can come back to save us      now is the time.

stars are iridescent forms
not saviors     but confirmation
of survival     by way of distance
and teach     by way of substance
 
unlike us, the able ones     walking on ground.

i wonder if the pay scale of a tight-rope walker
equals the danger of height     from the crowd
looks like a cross moving through air   
her balance     a prayer     miracle enough.
 
earth
     
long-term relationship best     not taken for granted.
remember the exchange of rings.
 
now, is the time to feel cold
ice-melt exposes entombed bone.

we burn

dollars cool unequally
babies born ready
to believe the next thing.

define GOOD as GOD and trust
maybe Jesus lives 
as a botanist.