A Knock
Vinnie Two Crow from the trailer at the school crossroads
has walked up through the snow, bringing a loaf
of pumpkin bread. Takes her big boots off
and sits for coffee. Clem’s always treated us good.
—You up here had too much trouble. I open the bread,
and she asks about the quilt in my hoop. Stray
lightning quilt, charred toys quilt—I don’t need to say
that. If you want, she says, I brought some sage along. Good
smoke might take away the bad, I told Clem out at the barn.
—If you got an old bowl or something to burn it in.
Copyright Credit: Debra Nystrom, "A Knock" from Night Sky Frequencies. Copyright © 2016 by Debra Nystrom. Reprinted by permission of The Sheep Meadow Press.
Source: Night Sky Frequencies (The Sheep Meadow Press, 2016)