Triptych

His wind-swirled fingertips
untangle the roots of salt water,
thorned with wrens

pecking at roans
whipping their manes
toward some new sunlight,
some new charred horse bit’s history.

Cornered into being a son
he should have never
left a snow-tipped leaf’s edge

in the hillside
where a barren cloud’s porous skull
keeps a winter house.

—

Coyote, open-jawed,
limp shoulder against his ear,
its silhouette: midnight blue—
            a satchel of stars
                        where its tail snaps     awake.

—

A knot of lung steam
behind his ribs;
a meteor charring white
over yellowing aspen;

he reaches down,
loosens shoelaces—
wind-dried roots unfurl,
his new name: seven times his height.

His knees press light to dark,
creasing them over and over
until his face smears and        fades.