Blessings

The Blessing of the Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog

by Alicia Ostriker

said the old woman
is to live and work
so hard
God’s love
washes right through you
like milk through a cow

To be blessed

is to knock their eyes out
with the slug of lust
implied by
your up-ended skirt

To be blessed
said the dog
is to have a pinch
of God
inside you
and all the other
dogs can smell it