"How could they go to sea in such flimsy craft?" Ruptured pontoon replaced by one of reeds. Motor with enough gas to carry them beyond small arms fire, trailing the smell of war. Joseph fleeing in the night with wife and child on the back of a donkey, left behind his shop, most of his tools for a foreign land. Donkey back was not his first choice, just the best available. Lakota Sioux pray, "May we always be ready for the long journey."
First appeared in 2019 issue of Blue Hole, the Georgetown Poetry Festival anthology, edited by Joyce and Mike Gullickson.