Chosen Family

      Once, a fish slid its sinuous body 
into the sea's cloud cover; 
                              it was taken to task  
      for not appearing before the gods. For keeping 
its own counsel, 
                 it received a lashing of bones. 
      I feel a natural kinship with it, but also  
with the lizard 
                 skittering through a labyrinth 
      of landmines and guillotines. Kinship with 
the orange-blushed 
                    mountain shrike and its constant 
      alarm of krr-krr-krr, and with ghosts 
of innumerable histories thickening 
                                    the air 
      that we breathe— Lock eyes with any creature 
you meet: the current  
                      you feel is felt by them, 
      too. Some are more expert at shedding 
their skin when it no longer 
                             serves them.