My Ukrainian wedding band:
a strip of wood, a sample of lichen,
forest hues hardened in resin
.
I tend to tense my fingers
below knuckles, stiffening,
tendons kissing hard,
.
an obsessive squeeze for release
which brings the fear, inadvertently,
I’ll crush the ring in time,
.
freeing foreign vegetation
from my promised finger,
stasis to alien air
.
I chose this one for its floating greens,
a primordial reminder
where we come,
.
but I know nothing of
the creator’s home
or the war down the road
.
How could I?
How could you,
from here?
If anyone should ask,
it is a frozen wheel of the planet
that made us, our trembling, affectionate guts,
.
a chain of mushrooms, leaves, and pumpkin sun,
offerings of a morning after rest, reminders
of turning renewable soil,
.
finding lovely sameness,
unbreakable cellular repetition,
clean cancer for the soul.