How to be ready for everything

is
             to pick up yesterday + crack
its thick honey. How
to be ready is not pockets
                          but matches, the act
is never carry but burn or if not burn at least warm, the rote mem-
              orization that is flame. How to be ready
for everything is to know
                          leaves turn, offer
their silver undersides when rain's
coming, is to know you have to use
heat and hard soap to scrub all trace
                          of gathered apples
from your hands if you don't want
              the dog jumping lickwild. How
to be ready for everything is to know
you've got one name though
                          nobody knows what it is,
even you, and so there's treebranch
              and rocksalt, there's shaved ice
              and trampled grass, there's a season
whose secrets haven't been disclosed
but look at the sky, look what's on its way.

—WESTON CUTTER