This Friend

You said the vacation restored you.
You saw coyotes
and found birch bark.
That was the highlight.
No, your husband was the highlight -
you said as an afterthought.

Two days in Sudbury
and the world changes for you.
A piece of a tree's shredded skin and
the world changes for you.
Some slag.
Slag? I have to ask.
It's the dregs of the nickel mines, you explain.

And you'll chip away all night at the bark
like you chipped away all day
on the piece of coral I brought you from the Bahamas.
And I wish I had more to chip away on
than my very own bones.