Contribution

 

To change the world,

she says,

 

become 

the mouse.

 

Let go of the sky

and the buzzing, dazzling city

release even the tree furred mountains

and follow the rain 

to your feet.

 

Pause there

where the bunchberry chimes

and the twinflowers trumpet

stirring their leaves 

in dappled sunlight

and the flash of insect wings.

 

Your contribution  

is the gift

of attention

 

which you will practice, she says,

as the student,

and learn to play

with reasonable skill

 

one 

misstep 

at a time.

 

Down here,

you will hear 

every marginalized song.

 

Amplify it. 

 

Gaze into the instrument’s

throat

 

and help set the sky

on fire.