curiosity's edge

 

 

           To Understand Flight

Wet hands work quickly, cartilage shines into light.
No need to repeat what you’ve seen

Of me, but yes I would anchor this house
To the ground if I could.   One day,

The grass said to the rain,   Do not leave.
Outside this house of memory and bricks,  I plucked

A wing to see the mechanics of flight.  How could
Anyone have moved with skin

Exposed like that and waiting?   Don’t think that the pull
Didn’t hurt or the sound.   I feared the sky

Ready to answer in rain.   To loosen feathers,
first close the eyes to spare them.

That day,  gray light spilled into crevices,
Covered my hands in down.   I was warm.

       

          -Malinda Markham   (RIP)      {1968  -  2012}






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