Salvage

The wreck 
is a fact. 
The worst 
has happened. 
The salvage trucks 
back in and 
the salvage men 
begin to sort 
and stack, 
whistling as 
they work. 
Thanks be 
to god—again— 
for extractable elements 
which are not 
carriers of pain, 
for this periodic 
table at which 
the self-taught 
salvagers disassemble 
the unthinkable 
to the unthought.