Hook

One year a general

packs the dead arithmetic in a drawer—

all the subtractions, divisions.

The next year, vines cover the bunkers.

The brain resumes its starbursts of rehearsal.

The heart leaps under the defibrillator.

The bone eases into its socket.

Skin grows back. Scars fade. Eyes clear.

Look at the trees at the burn, six years later.

Look at the sprout on a hay bale

on a truck. Look at the woman who was raped,

had her hands cut off in a creek:

She’s getting married.

The choir sings. The bride smiles.

The groom slips a ring on her hook.