Malinda Markham - 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