Prayer for Cheney

Prayer for Cheney

Daye Phillippo

But we carry this treasure in jars of clay…

Lord, that her healing, the restoration
of balance in her blood and bone,
would be as complete and complementary
as native wildflowers—yellow wingstem paired
with purple ironweed and goldenrod’s spikes
stirring the humid, late summer air.
That wholeness would be restored to her body
the way it has been to this habitat, swath
of ground, reclaimed complexly, commensally.
Refuge where, each spring, deer give birth
to spotted fawns, and in autumn tephritid flies
swell goldenrod stems with their nurseries.
In winter, snow clings the way mercy clings, first
to each wildflower and weed, then to the field.

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Daye Phillippo
Poet & Educator

Daye Phillippo taught English at Purdue University and her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Poetry, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Presence, The Midwest Quarterly, Cider Press Review, One Art, Shenandoah, The Windhover, and many others. She lives and writes in rural Indiana where she hosts Poetry Hour at her local library. Thunderhead (Slant, 2020) was her debut full-length collection. You may find more of her work on her website: www.dayephillippo.com

Photography by Plato Terentev