George M. Perreault
ash wednesday
there are some habits
i could put aside
and surely not alone
though we wear them well
like jeans gone all friendly
soft as a hangman’s hood
it has rained here for hours
the ashes
wishing they were coal
burn us soil to sky
burn us into wingbeats
of whatever soul might be
pascha
then comes a morning
invested green and gold
a day they tell your child
he has gone before
what started with fire
ends in the earth
put aside the heavens
here is galilee
even to sail what eye can see
this archipelago of stars
such little mouths we carry
would hollow out our bones
meld us lichen-different things
to live on stones and trees:
lie down as you were born
and know it is enough
a body broken into peace
here in galilee
George Perreault's fifth full-length collection of poetry, lie down as you were born, is forthcoming from Kelsay Books in 2023.