Philtrum is located above the upper lip, a vestigial medial depression without any known function

Kristen Lenea Ryberg

Philtrum is located above the upper lip, 
a vestigial medial depression 
without any known function
                    

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Mom pointed to sunrays as angel pathways,
A levitation into light
She placed her index finger on the indent above my lip, 
It’s an imprint of God’s touch, she said
And thunder, a heavenly bowling game 
Included a lightening strike.

On star-shine nights 
She played along 
As I waited for flight
On my green blanket,
To the Milky Way
A place I seemed to know.

She taught a nightly prayer  
A plea for retrieval 
After possible death in sleep
Tenderly taken in the right hands

   If I should die before I wake,
  I pray the Lord my soul to take

Sunday school 
A time for coloring in
Outlines of a robed man and woman
Curious sheep, arranged in a stable
A babies cradle, was told
They named him
Jesus

I carried her old black bible 
Tightly zipped closed
The gold edge
A sacred corral. 

I’d smooth the cream paper inserts  
Detailed prints of bright winged children 
Ringed haloes,
Cringe at bloody-thorns 
Tears, nailed hands and feet

        ~

Just yesterday 
At the farmer’s market
I bought bunches of blue Forget-Me Knots
And jam labeled Bittersweet Cherry spread.
Near home, I saw Jesus 
on the corner with a cardboard sign

And again in Columbus, MS. as an itinerant magician
God his agent, indiscriminately booking gigs
Pulls 2 peace-doves out of a hat
Hand-waves a woman back together.

Lately I’ve been asking for a fusion
To something like a tide 
No, first, a tidal wave, to suddenly
Take away sad structures 
Repurpose the debri into 
A sureness of eternal current.

I’ll survive the wave 
Shimmy a Shaggy Birch 
Instinctively climb
Like a tough-love swimming lesson
My first submersion in water
It will all be a baptism
An awakening
Saved. 

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NOTE: The audio version with a bit of commentary is available at the top

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And, if moved to do so, here is my QR for a one time love offering.