From What I Understand
by
Radiance Angelina Petro

From what I understand, the creation wept itself
into being—from the unseen to the seen,
from the subtle inwardness of elegant winds
to the storm urging on the lightning, from
coffins made of seashells to bread dissolving
in water, and the swan’s belly. Life has no intermissions,
and the scholar of needs explains everything,
and we all know whenever something is taught
something is omitted. I don’t know where
these words are going or where they’re coming from,
but my hair is bathed in wind and combed by the rain, and heaven
is the greater punishment, and I am weeping too.
My organized body—a prelude to every moment now.
And I’m off to go talking with the liturgical trees.