When the whooping crane comes to visit me
with its smokey feathers and nimble legs
it melts the edges of my grief into Holy seawater
Illness has unraveled my life
made me question everything I thought I knew
not like this graceful crane who is sure of itself
performing the ritual of a dancer’s plié among the tall sawgrass
Breathe! I hear my voice command
the sound of letters ricocheting
off the insides of my chewed-up bloody cheeks
I don’t want to die
The light behind the cabbage palms
overtakes the skin of a whited sky
I exhale, baptized
a rinsed potato left behind in a cracked porcelain sink
When the dew finally comes
a sacrament of my sickness
I am the grace of the whooping crane
Kara Joseph is a clinical social worker, poet, and artist who has a private practice providing psychotherapy, poetry therapy, expressive arts workshops, and palliative support. She is currently working on her first chapbook. Kara lives with her family and works at her studio in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Please visit www.palliativepoet.org.