Morals
by Abigail Walthausen
What can I give
without Joseph, Doula
and sheepwives and cowwives?
A range of applied pieties,
against pan proteins
for storybook farmers
for the beauty of the earth
against a token virus.
Every coffee ground to a worm in need.
For the crystals and against the slice of Candelaria.
Every eggshell for the soil,
and carton away from turtles.
There is no story to values
{no sparkle in this set of brackets}.
If I made a shoe to hold them together
it would be coconut suede,
laces out of saffron threads.
Spine, compass, gelatin, center —
a few things only as good as their maker.
Abigail Walthausen lives in Los Angeles where she writes and teaches.