One Note

I’m about to give birth, no,
It is my daughter carrying.
I have just died, no, not me,
It was my mother waving I love you
To my niece. I am a little angry at my family.
They let my mother die. They are a little angry
At me, I let my daughter become pregnant
In the light of a rainbow at Santa Clara Canyon.

Where, on pine needles is this mother hiding?
Where, on the side of a mesa, is a baby
Hanging upside down considering
What being human means? Meanwhile,
I hum and play a singing bowl. My instrument
Because it only has one note like I do.

Each of us goes on singing the small tunes
We learned from Place and person, city
Of Pittsburgh and village, La Puebla,
The beauty shop, the stores. Automobiles
Know us better than our family does. Our shoes
Wear out their lives carrying us around.