Communion, and: Bad Luck

Communion

More to this than rootsand leaves themselves alone.

More to this than elegantwhiffs of the wild,a creepy seep of the fungal,of horse, of algal scum.

More than a rafter of turkeysperched in the pinesacross the street.

More to this than finger,than nail, than tooth and tongue.

More, too, than callupon call of unseen crowswaking you from pleasant dreams.

More to this than wind,more than scattered seeds.

More because I cannot untanglethe roots of myself,all this blasé braininessbunk at last.

More because I cannot lay barethe prattle of so much singing.

One is always thinking.One is always thinking.

Bullfrogs in the marsh,woodchucks in the cellar.

More than this but forever less:warmth and light breakingover the furled bud,crashing in coilslike grief on our heads.

Bad Luck

It's bad luck to say or spell your name backwardUnless of course you do so while looking into a mirror,And then only if the mirror isn't scratched or cracked,And only if it's not midnight, or February 29th, or your birthday.But I'm sure you know that already. (To be safe you should just avoidSaying or spelling your name backward at all, even as a joke.)

It's also bad luck to forget to trim one of your nailsWhen you're trimming your nails unless you or someoneIn the same room—or your mother, your father, or a sibling—Is missing a finger. Some think it's bad luck to be missing a finger,But those people are insensitive and superstitious.

Swallowing any coin is bad luck unless you find itOnce you've passed it, in which case, it's tremendously good luck. (Yay!)But it's bad luck—obviously the worst luck of all—To spend a coin that you've swallowed, passed, and found.To receive such a coin in a monetary transactionHas no bearing whatsoever on your luck.

It's bad luck to have a medical procedure on your birthday.This doesn't include dental work. (Don't worry about dental workOn your birthday.) But dreams in which you are able somehow to speakA foreign language that you are not actually able to speakIn your awake life are bad luck unless you're having that dreamOn your birthday, and then it's good luck (all right!) because it meansYou'll eventually learn to speak that or a related language fluently.

A lot of things people dream about used to be bad luck,Like eating something that isn't food, or becoming someone else,Or falling asleep while you're already asleep and then waking up again and again,But for the most part now it's safe to go ahead and dreamWhatever it is you dream without worrying aboutHow it will affect your luck or the luck of anyone around you.

Everybody knows it's bad luck to fall asleep at a funeral,But did you know that it's worse luck to sneeze at a funeral?In fact, there's a lot of stuff you should definitely not do at funerals.In general, I'd recommend laying pretty low when someone you know dies.

It remains bad luck, just so you know, to predictHow the world will end (fire, ice, et cetera) when it's obvious reallyThat it ends the same way every time.