Runes
by Michael Dylan Welch
First published in Frogpond 45:1, Winter 2022, page 86. Originally written in May of 2010 in the air between Seattle, Washington and Oakland, California.
Kashmir sunrise
not one but a hundred
neon buddhas
the neon buddha gets
a whole lotta love
when the levee breaks
the neon buddha
begins to pray
houses of the holy
burned to the ground
neon buddha’s untied shoelace
the stairway to heaven
passes by the neon buddha
going to California
the neon buddha’s
open heart