Portrait of the Diaspora in Rituals for Crossing Thresholds
At arrival, pour a few drops of oil on the hinge-
-side jamb of the door. At departure
make a black dot with mascara or eyeliner
behind the ear. Speak God’s name
at the ignition, at key turn.
Write God’s name with the third finger-
-tip on the page of the pillow before departing
for the dream world. Trace God’s name
across the temple, at the hairline
before the child passes
out of the world of the home into that other world.
Stay standing at the open door
to watch them leave, guest or child,
as our parents stood watching us depart
for highways and train stations and airports.
They still watch. We know exactly
the words in their mouths,
leaving home as we still are,
marked as we are, by what they spoke
into the airspace above our heads,
scrawled with finger or eye pencil
on our faces, arriving home, as we do
(dark oil blossom on wood)
stepping right foot first over the door sill