20. this life

*for Moshe Azariah*

an egg decides to cast open its pores when
the winding fin of a sperm (or two) shuffle over,
ebbing just the right rippled rhythm in its direction
to turn up the sweet heat of its wanting to
become life

the chemical reaction of two oceans of dna,
two wild seas of ancestral lines touching for
the first time forms a spark of zinc, like a halo
crowning the holy blush of their union 

each of us were once a single cell infinite
cosmology of histories synthesized in
singular simplicity, homage to our origins’
singular building block of life

before erupting in raucous diversity, tectonic
plates and primal imprints, curls and tubes,
migrating organs, plump bowls of sacs and
skin, the beats and flow of a fluid matrix, it’s
intricate timing, exquisite balance and
delicate codes 

the blueprint of human form is complete
within weeks of its first taste of the elixir
for weaving fascia through tiny bones,
often before we realize our swelling
tissues are sheltering new life

a body decides to stash a fistful of infinite
in zipped pouches of promises for a sensory
wilderness worth its weight in limitation,
sheds an orbit of possible to cling
to one blood woven welcome

there is webbing between our digits that
chooses cellular death, fights the temptress
of fluid eternity for a sprawling ache to move,
a bundle of cells decides with every pulse and
division and differentiation to stay

a body decides to cup the rising tide of our
longing though it is already poured full with
regret and missteps, decides to stitch its
becoming to the parade of promise to keep
trying

a body decides when a basket of hearts 
carefully braided, reeds of knowing to cast
a home of one’s loving, to rest generations
in the center of our spell of tomorrow is enough 
to tumble a vessel of destiny down the rolling
currents of our gratitude you are here