Welcome to Guardian Angel School

Can I stop a dog from gnawing its tail?
you ask. Save a child from blindness? Rescue
a meadow? You want to understand your
range of motion. You will face rogue rivers,
scheming mosquitoes, rice shortages. Not
to mention surgeons with unsteady hands.
Check behind bedroom doors. Never ignore
leaky boats, uneasy seas. Yes, prayer is

a comfort—but not a useful tool in
your kit. Same goes for money. Trust your heart?
Risky. You arrived here falling, broken-
winged. Expect scant correlation between
love and safety. Every eighteen minutes—
weighted with stones—someone jumps from a bridge.

(Published in The Massachusetts Review)