This is addressed to you,
the one,
true reader,
even if we never meet
or understand
one another—please
let this
poem stand for
the opposite
of prayer—
no sparkling
paean
to the sacred sky,
just these mealy words
to ground you
to the earth,
to fermented treasure
troves of dirt, actual apple trees,
sequoia groves;
may it point away
from god
and curl more in-tight—
toward goodness,
toward all those faultless,
and guiltless
protons and electrons.
And may it point outward too,
toward that
which
you truly are.
All of
the time.
No matter
what else:
a primate—
in a gorgeous electro-
magnetic field.
