Martha Silano

The Vital Question

 
has something to do with a close up of a human cell
beads and strings    an exquisite necklace

with cutting away the finesse    keeping the mornings   
losing the way past dusk    don’t live your life in a maybe kind of way

my father said    tell me how and why and I will tell you
what I’ve been told like an egg that doesn’t know

its forthcoming wing    God’s mouth is full of the bluest kind
of mystery solved     that a flame has a shadow     that there is no scale

to weigh the sky    no pushpins in the hypothermal vents   
no Post-its for the flashpoints    no scalpelling the wonder   

no  gloved hand    reaching into the ocean    to find the source 
no pointing to the exact place where it all began

Martha Silano is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Gravity Assist (Saturnalia Books 2019). Previous collections include Reckless Lovely (2014) and The Little Office of the Immaculate Conception (2011), also from Saturnalia Books. Martha’s poems have appeared in Poetry, Paris Review, Poetry Daily, American Poetry Review, and The Best American Poetry series, among others. She teaches at Bellevue College.