Once I walked
through a forest.
It was high
in the mountains.
The air was clear and thin.
The stars shone brightly,
the outline of the forest canopy in sharp relief
like the background
to a stop-motion silhouette fairy tale.

Would shy cereus or sugar glider,
swing-shift foreman or taxi driver,
call the day better
than the night?

Or say the moon
has only one side,
that which we can see?

Is a dollar worth more
face up in a palm
and less face down?

Who would wish for only
a right hand?
Does anyone still call the left
sinister?