Nest

for Madison, on her wedding day

Confession: we didn’t want you

to move to Michigan,

where the statues have arms

in all the wrong places

and the snow smears down

the sidewalks in March.

We didn’t want to wave around

wine glasses and say “lake effect”

like it meant something. Then

we witnessed your happy,

the way you clung to each other

like shadows minus the darkness.

You grew into this love like a trellis,

climbing, certain of what’s above:

baths of honey, tubs of sugar,

an abundance of cake.

What we are trying do is write you

a garden, a tree branch, any place

with room to build your nest.

Our promise: we will help you

sculpt twigs again and again

to build a space in the world

perfect for your two shapes.