Ribs

Photo by Brianna Marble on Unsplash. Image description: a large ribcage sits embedded in a field at the base of a chain of mountains.

For Ariel

Let’s not say

I’m made from elements

of a cage, from something

iron-clad meant to constrain

movement of breath and blood.

Scale these steps, explore these rungs

from guts to top of lungs, a stairway

more enigmatic and expandable

than any Escher. These stairs

harbor stories. I can breathe out

origin tales, how idyllic

the garden, how deceptive

the serpent, how easily we turn

murderous. No, not a cage, but maybe

a basket. Something porous and pierce-

able that, before its inevitable decay, might hold

fruit or wildflowers or wool

just waiting to be spun.