Answers

In the fake gypsy tent
the old woman says: Ask.
Concentrate on your question while I
shuffle the cards
rub the crystal ball
stir the tea leaves.
One time I would have killed a pigeon
and read the entrails—
health regulations, you know.

But I don't want to be given answers,
I want to find them.

I want to walk a thousand miles to find a spring in the desert.
I want to dive into the maelstrom to bring up a pearl.
I want to climb into the osprey's nest atop the tower
that hums with secret cell-phone messages
to find the magic ring in the belly of the Salmon of Wisdom
who was captured while climbing the fish ladder at Bonneville Dam
to escape hungry sea lions.
I want to search the heart of a live volcano for a single giant crystal
of dark-olive as hard as a diamond and cradled in strands of gold glass.

I won't ask you for an answer.
Just point me a direction
and I'll go.

Collection available! Knocking from Inside