How to Fly
by Lisa Alletson
Love the cliff face first.
Measure and weigh
the hands that shackle your ankles
holding you back.
Test the troposphere
with a snowdrop
sprung from your glow.
Leave out a bowl
of black holes
to consume gravity.
Inhale the sweetness
of the wet blade of grass
between you and freedom.
Build a pair of wings
out of tendons and memories
with your naked fingers.
The wings will stick
to your body at first —
low and frightened.
Towel them down
with your childhood blanket
to soak up burdens.
Don’t forget
to take your children —
past and future.
(They will know if you leave without them.)
Don’t forget your strength.
Never forget your strength.
Let go.
IMAGE:Les Oiseaux (The Birds), silkscreen by Henri Matisse (1947).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lisa Alletson writes poetry using stark imagery inspired by the political, geographic, and cultural…
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