Singing at the Edge of Need by Susan Laughter Meyers (fragment)Three things I turned my back to: light,the past, the trunk of an old tree.One by one each unfastened itself.To sit is to present when the roll is called.I knew that. I wore my hat of straw, fringedlike fingers sifting a breeze. My hatcollecting a thousand thoughts……I had no mapand few lessons yet to guide me.I was a study of questions. O Grandmother,I was small, sitting in the midst of wildness,a child thrilling at the boss of thunder.A rustle of leaves, moss tipping at me-I was small, I was hunger, I was thirst-wings flitting in a brush pile. O Grandmother,I was small, kneeling in the midst of wonder,quaking and singing at the edge of need.

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