Moths Beat About Bulbs
for Antoinette Penha

out of whom did I screw four children
out or in, how do we screw them

are our children light bulbs, like bulbs
to light a dark corner, a dark world

or are they screws in hinges
so doors can swing open, so doors swing shut
when night falls
or when we wish
to shut someone up
or shut someone out

or screws to keep an air craft from unraveling
like knitting, high above the clouds

out through the window, high in the sky,
I ponder screws I see

imagine the wind undoing them
imagine them becoming undone

screws keep an air craft intact
as intact as an egg shell
passengers, chicks inside, hatching,
preparing to be born

we screw children out, we screw children in
we screw children up, we screw some down

Mary watched her son, Jesus, son of man
hammered to a cross

nails through hands and feet
a spear through his side


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2010
4:24 a.m. 10.01.10