A series of short stories about several different women I know well

She moves close to the edge of the nest

cocks her head sideways

Looks down wobbling, stretches and

leaps off into space

But her wings are overburdened with bombs

She gets up at dawn and busies her hands

hoping her mind will follow

A-hum, she makes the clink of delicate ceramic

against a silent kitchen

and the smell of tea

She bites without thinking

nips the finger, stains the bread

The skin remembers the club and the whip

long after the cage is opened

goading the snarl to rise

She knows a strange song

composed of notes written in cursive

“I could tell you but you’ll have to kill me”

is her only reply, brassily

when I ask the key

She whispers a defiant flag

to the tip of the mast of a tiny ship

adrift on a tiny sea

capturing vessels

twice her size and vanishing

She wraps her bare legs around a fly

digs her fingernails

into its back hoping

to catch the wings in her fist

and tear them off at the root

A current warm

I was at sea once
afar off from the safety of shore
nothing but the gentle sloshing of black waves
and the tug of a small wind
to hear, and in the darkness
no ships passed.

At some point
a current, warm
began pushing me with an imperceptible breath
small but determined
it carried me in for a ways
until I could see just on the horizon
the faint glow of home.

But in my confusion I
swam against it and
now I
wetter and colder and
a little lower in the water,
the long night sits down beside.

Purchase of Wings

The streets of your city
are concrete and gritty
to the touch
The rules drive me crazy
and I've never cursed this much
but the railing is nice
a clever device for two lovers to lean on
and take in the night
the lights and the cars
and the sounds from the bars down below

Your beaches are pretty
the palm trees are really
alright
Combined with the water
the sun on the sand is
a sight
but the twinkling stars
and the sound of the heart
racing inches below where my head rests
is best
There's no lights and no words
only goodnights from birds where we lay

Then I wake up
make coffee
check messages
I can't believe that we made it a year
Was it the sunsets
or dancing
or Grand Marnier
that caused us all of these tears?
Either way it’s a wash
bittersweet is the cost
that we pay for the purchase of wings
made of string

We walk from the station
to our destination
single file
I'm wanting to hold you
I'm wanting to scold you
with a smile
But we hurry to part
then we delay the start of
the future that scares us to death
Now it finally came and I'm boarding the plane
with your memory still on my breath

Then I wake up
make coffee
check messages
I can't believe that we made it a year
How could the sunrise
and mountains
and Grand Marnier
cause us all of these tears?
Either way its a wash
bittersweet is the cost
that we pay for the purchase of wings 

Yeah I know it’s a loss
There’s no counting the cost
that we paid for the purchase of wings

made of string

The streets of this city
are concrete and gritty
to the touch
The rules drive me crazy
and I've never cursed this much