The mosaic maker stands
in piles of stained-glass shrapnel,
sifting through verbs and nouns
with bloodied fingers.
She struggles to find places for
stillborn
starvation
midnight-hued -cides and
sold.
She seeks a strong cement
and strains to see the Pattern
in which all things (this, hard beauty)
hold together.
Melissa Weaver
Melissa Weaver lives in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where she manages to tend to a steady husband, a preschooler, toddler, and baby, an unruly backyard garden, and occasionally a poem or two. A former English and English Language Learner teacher, she seeks to be deeply rooted in her neighborhood, building relationships with kids and families who have come from all over the world. There’s a place for her at the Trinity’s table, and she is learning that’s enough. She and her family find fellowship at Harrisonburg Mennonite Church. Her work has appeared in The Christian Century, Mothers Always Write, The Anabaptist Journal of Australia and New Zealand, and Transforming, a publication of Virginia Mennonite Missions.