The X-Ray

Calcium absorbs more radiation, 
rendering the bones chalk-white. 
Soft tissues admit less, and show

as gray. Beneath the pale ceiling  
of the pelvis, slim pillars lengthen
down the leg. Imagine an orchard

outside— the moon rising to limn
persimmons with one more layer 
of gold. Consider the other 

trees giving up their leaves
for beaten copper, and the cry 
of a loon limping across water

as if toward a beacon. White,
green, red. And then the soft
furl of darkness afterwards.