"Very Well," "Salamander," and "Impression"

Very Well

Tradition is looking forward
to something that has already
happened. You can change it,
but only in your favor. The boy
descendants of the ship flaunt
naked hands at cotillion dances.
Gloved girls receive instruction
and practice in the courtesies that
make life more pleasant for them
and those around them––proper
acknowledgment of gifts, giving
and receiving a compliment. The
Wampanoag people cannot live
as their ancestors did but adapt
and continue, reviving language,
as is the way of the People of the
First Light. The gloves are said
to decrease the spread of germs
and to ease the tension of social
dancing, but it must be about much
more than that, beneath the blinding
surface, hidden in the dark. Matrifocal
society flourished pre-contact and the
spread of leptospirosis. It could come
back. You can put people in pumpkin
shells, but they are still here inside.

Salamander

You regrow limbs. I know what triggers
this kind of response. Cells remember. I
make a motherhood not by mitosis but re
generation. A branch must break for the
dormant cytoplasm to even know we can
begin. Protect the wound. Foster magic in
your immune system; it will be how you find
the extent of your reach. It is only natural.
Just because it is in your genes, doesn't
mean it isn't difficult. They say you can
bend hell, they say you are a mud puppy.
We know that scarring slows down your
process, but doesn't stop it. All together.

Impression

Bi-focalization renders strange
middle grounds. The blind spot
 
got filled in with the shadow of
a nose. Compressed files stop at
 
nothing. In my cabin, pixels are
the moss between the logs. Ready
 
for winter but really only available
during other seasons. Think ahead.
 
Memory is a glasses-off kind of
game. You'll stuff crevices with
 
all kinds of fabulous detritus.Open
composition cannot be accurate in
 
the way you rely on it to be. I can still
see two beautifuls out beyond belief.