Foundational

from Out With Lanterns

When the house started slipping,
we finally called the experts.  
They held their chins, shook their heads,
said it’s worse than we thought. 

I could’ve told them that–
because I knew, of course, 
but I didn’t want to know.
One can hope for the best

even when evidence of the worst
cracks down the wall. My mother 
taught me that hope goes a long way, 
is a thing with feathers.

But even as a young child with
cracks forming down my face, arms, belly,
I knew that, as it turns out, hope and 
feathers can’t hold up a house.  

Photo by Evie S. on Unsplash