Jane Zwart
Karma
.
Of justices, karma is the most poetic—
a magistrate who makes us wear
our wrongs: albatrosses, ugly charms.
Our good deeds, too. Some old men
show up to the next life in infinity
scarves, every last handkerchief
they pressed on a stranger returned
at once, and at last.
…………………….Of course we all
look foolish in the motley nooses
of our mitzvahs and mistakes,
but most of us manage to turn up
half-way decent anyway—
half-decent, albeit in revealing
sleeves. You know, the kind
that flaunt the heart.
.
Jane Zwart teaches at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she also co-directs the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing. Her poems have appeared in The Poetry Review, Bad Lilies, Poetry, Ploughshares, and Threepenny Review, as well as other journals and magazines.
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