I realized then that it was far, far away
in the distance, the small v of an eagle
who slowly rises, dips on currents of air
© Chagall 2015
Tag Archive: flight
I can sense the shape of the wing
that my skeletal frame would require
to sustain flight
Like the memory of a limb after having been severed
I can still feel
I can still itch
I can still clench
I have flown
So many times that
my memory of each
runs together
such that I and I
are in echelon
From the tops of these trees
the city peers back with a lazy eye
and a sprawling lack of focus
A string of lights at the border
is sequenced in series to appear to cascade
first up then down, in so many colors
It is dark and I lose myself
in the surround of the night
Heavy birds weigh down branches, honed in on
the tip of balance just before snapping,
I sneeze and startle them all away
The moment you relax deeply and securely
into the updraft, you’ll begin to ride the scree
remember – hang low in the pocket
and let the flexible tension that is arced around you
the buoyancy that is, of wind rushing the fine cilia
about you, spread under light and sky in full spanned glory,
take you ever higher to loftier aerie
to thin and rarefied air
© Chagall 2014
I stare up at the sky as you’d look down
at an inlet from the top of a cliff; my toes
grip the edge, I imagine rotations, paths I’ll need
to execute perfect spirals.
I swing, to and fro, once, twice, and again to build up momentum,
calves, thighs, I’m ready, spring-dive, I release, I fall or I float,
it’s hard to distinguish which when One is topsy-turvily challenged,
gravitationally advantaged, determined and faith-rich.
I know I’m there when I brush a cloud, so I open my eyes a moment,
a peek, great falls from here; boats above and planes below,
eagles, balloons, schools and gaggles, canopies, reefs, eddies and updrafts,
earth light falls on night break, I ascend, so excited, I’m the girl in the moon.
© Chagall 2013
Alphabet City 