The Critical Pass Review, Spring 2014
Waiting is the feather
Flick of a carrier’s wing
In mountain fog. Updraft
Sends the message, whether
Cliff or current, sing
Or sink, uncertain craft
Or calculated lift.
The flight edge lives
In Schrödinger’s zombie box
Of time or dread that gives
Ghosts of glory to the heart it unlocks
With a suture or a rift.
Close-cropped fins of air
Bend, twist & ply
In atmospheric drift.
Mercury swoops the sky
On thrust & drag that’s fair
To a starling, fair to a swift.
This ridged, airy foil—
Its brushed bone, quills & sabre joints
Of cartilage & coil—
Arches angles, pulls & points
With flexing, tensile thrift.
Clip the remiges, assault
Bears grounded treason
From perfect form. Evolution
Sends the message to moult
In the quiet season.
In any revolution
The waiting is the gift.