Shane McCrae

The hastily assembled angel flies With patchwork wings red patches and white patches And yellow patches blood and emptiness And sun and usually      an angel’s wings would Be made of  only one of  these      but his Were made at the last minute and were almost Not made at all and wouldn’t have been made Had Azrael not seen      in the hastily Assembled angel’s eyes as Azrael Placed his white palm on the hastily assembled Angel’s chest fear      as Azrael placed his palm there To shove him from the cloud      and saw he had No wings      and paused and thought      then pulled him back And so the angels stitched together what was Near      blood      emptiness      sun      as what was near Was Heaven      and what else would Heaven be

Before it disappears on the sand his long white      beard before it disappears The face of the man in the waves I ask her does she see it ask her does The old man in the waves      as the waves crest she see it does she see the old man his White     his face crumbling face it looks as old as he’s as old as The ocean looks and for a moment almost looks His face like it’s     all the way him As never such old skin looks my / Daughter age four She thinks it might he might be real she shouts Hello And after there’s no answer answers No

They put me in a dead boy’s clothes dead Joseph Except he wasn’t dead at first they put Me in his clothes dead Joseph’s     after Joseph Died and I used to call him Joe     they put Me in   Joe’s clothes at first before he died Joe wasn’t five yet when I met him      I Was seven     I was seven when he died Still but a whole year bigger then but I Wore his clothes still and the whole year I lived with Momma Varina      and with daddy Jeff I never lived so good as when I lived with Them and especially it was daddy Jeff Who kept me fed and wearing those nice clothes Until they fit as tight as bandages

When Richmond is finally        one of the world’s great capitals I will line the streets with apple trees

Except most things weren’t clouds      everything there Was clouds      the hastily assembled angel Before he knew the word clouds was the last word He heard the other angels shouting as They shoved him      though he after he had fallen Too far to hear them he      saw their mouths mak- ing shapes that were not clouds and when he saw that Thought That’ssomething that isn’t clouds thatshouting After I’ve fallen too far to hear them don’t They knowI’ve fallen too far to hear them now Or are we not together now before He knew the word      in those few minutes the oth- er angels were assembling him      he named The things he saw with words that seemed to fit them Nothing was heavenly a few things were Ocean and hole and monkeyapple he Before the other angels shoved him      had Started combining words      but nobody Would name the things he saw the way he named them And to the other angels all his naming Was noise they shouted      as they shoved him It’s All clouds what difference could it make      to the angel Built to monitor the Earth      from the surface Of  the Earth      what was or wasn’t true in Heaven They shoved him then      they stared and then they shouted After the disappearing figure all The things they suddenly remembered      they had Forgotten to tell him      as they were hammer- ing him together as they hammered him Together and behind them      but above Behind      a pinkish light that was or was- n’t God pulsed      like the heart of  one of  the creatures God hadn’t yet created though the angels Had seen the creatures coming in the waves Then covering the Earth      the angels had Seen them      and didn’t want to be assigned To live with them      and so had voted to Build their own angel but they didn’t ask Permission first instead they built him quick- ly      and as Gabriel asked God      if  this New angel could be sent instead to Earth Fresh      eyes for a fresh world the other angels Shoved him the hastily assembled angel From the cloud and Heaven      he      the hastily Assembled angel could see      farther than The other angels though he couldn’t under- stand what he saw as well      as the other angels Might have      and as he fell he saw their mouths mak- ing shapes he saw the light behind them      pulsing And as he fell he watched the clouds becoming Abstract      as any other angel would From Heaven watch a species go extinct Even as dry land emerged from the waves below him

The hastily assembled angel wanders And has      through cities centuries of  cities And countries and millennia of  cities And countries and of  women and of men      there’s No hurry now though he was hurriedly Once brought to being      and bears the scars of  that Though slowly      in the Earth      though slowly he Eventually began to wonder what The hurry had been for      and if  he could Have been a better angel or have done Better the job he did if once They’d made him the      other angels had allowed Him to meet God      for he has been uncertain As people are uncertain he has nev- er been as certain      as dogs are      who sniff The wind that moves the curtain      and see behind the curtain