Get out now, the angels said.  No time 
			to dwell on odds and ends -- a change of clothes,

			the favorite cooking pot. I see her climb
			the hill with angry strides, as if she knows

			she's reached a crisis point. I'd like to posit
			reasons, find out why she turns around,

			despite the end her choice will bring. Is it 
			just guileless longing for those ill-starred towns --

			or something deeper, say that time when Lot
			held out their daughters to the mob, or worse,

			when Abram gave his wife to Pharaoh? What 
			if death as cherished salt seems less a curse

			than life as chattel, just ahead of she-goats
			in the scheme of things-behind the he-goats?

				--- Julian Crowell
				Thanks to Lambs & Trochees for publishing
				"Lot's Wife" in their Fall 2004 issue.