To be blessed

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


To be blessed
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
said the dark red tulip
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



Alicia Suskin Ostriker

The Book of Seventy

University of Pittsburgh Press

(from Poetry.com)