Weekly Poem: 'Salvage'

**By Kay Ryan** The wreck is a fact. The worst has happened. The salvage trucks back in and the salvage men begin to sort and stack, whistling as they work. Thanks be to God--again-- for extractable elements which are not carriers of pain, for this periodic table at which the self-taught salvagers disassemble the unthinkable to the unthought. _Poet Laureate Kay Ryan recently sat down with Jeffrey Brown to talk about her work and her role as_ "Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress":http://www.loc.gov/poetry/. _That conversation will be posted here soon. Much more about Ryan can be found in our_ "Poetry Series":http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/entertainment/poetry/profiles/poet_ryan.html.