Things I Carry Into the World
by Cynthia Manick
when I was small
I thought my body held
all the elements
my left instep knew
how to make snow
drop like pendulums
rain shaped like spoons
the volume of Niagara Falls
a heat so heavy
it’s in our blood you know
the power to grow
fibroids ossified fruit
to hold lightning inside
grow daughters among
shifting currents
like thunderclouds
I don’t stray far from earth-
ly things
I still whet my teeth
on branches in the yard
wonder how planets are made
