Secondhand Offerings

Help-
less, a bystander
more used to repairing with my hands
solving problems with my mind
like what to do with the cat-clawed screen
how to fill the freedom from a relationship
fatigued through repetitive motion
which will wear any bindings
whether formed from plastic molds and metal
or twists of skin, bone, and muscle.

I watch as icons
turn green in support of a revolution in the desert,
as friends and loved ones fall
ill to the diseases of the body
areas where I have no domain
where my only offer are words scattered
more like loose change in the hands
than an open palm pulling up.

We light candles, pray
ponder phrases like “positive outcomes”
ask not for strength
but for the ability to bear witness
to persist like a lighthouse
on the rocks
as the waves roll in
wash across the wooden beams
and rusted iron
the lamp which revolves
noticed or not.

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