The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets originally published this poem.

I.

In the beginning there were no orphans. God created the sky and
You lived, because a divine hand saved you from an accident. You lived
Though it’s an exaggeration to maintain that he must be an angel.

II.

In the beginning there were no orphans. God created the sky and
You lived without knowing how to formulate simple expressions
And random magic. But there are compensations, things we do:
I breathe in, breathe in and don’t explode
Through their empty names.

III.

In the beginning there were no orphans. God created the sky and
You lived, because a divine hand carried you from the eye of the storm
Remember language comes from this.
Waves turn into musical scores. Thinking captures the sound.
Listen. The new figures are simply those of birds,
Do not forget that they have names
Let it matter what we call a thing.

Amanda Ngoho Reavey is an Emeritus Poetry Fellow at Black Earth Institute and the author of Marilyn, which won the 2017 Best Book Award in Poetry from the Association for Asian American Studies. She holds an MFA in Writing & Poetics from Naropa University.