Grex Poetry Conference

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Grex Poetry Item 103: How I Fly
Entered by bookworm on Fri Jun 18 15:45:04 UTC 1999:

I am a bird without wings.
As I push myself up out of the watery air
And feel gravity tug uselessly at my stomach,
I marvel at the beauty of the patchwork earth
That covers my sleeping mother in mottled folds
Beneath the soapy clouds.

I am a bird without wings.
My soul climbs high into the night
Finding the torch of inspiration
And lighting its own tiny taper there
To give a golden glow
To the eyes of those who see it.

I am a bird without wings.
My song is a melody of love.
It sings in the heart and the mind.
Every other wingless bird
Hears and takes flight,
Spreading its power to every niche.
             -written 17 June 1999
             -inspired by the trip to Detroit

8 responses total.

#1 of 8 by lumen on Fri Jun 18 19:08:57 1999:

I like this classic style.  Lots of metaphorical imagery.

#2 of 8 by orinoco on Sat Jun 19 21:39:49 1999:

The first stanza rocks - "watery air", "gravity tug uselessly", and "soapy
clouds" are all great phrases, and the whole thing seems to me like a great
description of the queasy/soaring feeling of flying, so it's kind of a
let-down to switch to the whole 'soaring effortlessly' mood of the rest of
the poem.  

Ooh, I just read that first bit again and found another good one.  I love the
way you take the cliche of the earth looking like a patchwork quilt and turn
it around by having someone sleeping under the quilt.  Heck, I just like the
whole first stanza.

#3 of 8 by jshafer on Sun Jun 20 02:36:37 1999:

I agree with orinoco on the first stanza.  I'm pretty indifferent
about the other two, not that I'm suggesting you change them or 
anything.

#4 of 8 by lumen on Sun Jun 20 04:57:29 1999:

resp:2  letdown?  Once we got well into the air, we started getting used to
it.

#5 of 8 by orinoco on Sun Jun 20 20:39:13 1999:

Fine, then I'd like to see her demonstrate that relief and adjustment as
well as she demonstrates the awkwardness in the first stanza.

#6 of 8 by bookworm on Tue Jun 22 17:20:51 1999:

We'll see.  I'll have to work on that a tad.

I was working, initially from the impressions I got from looking out the window
of the plane.  We had airsickness all the way over.  On the way  back I just
had elevator sickness.  Much better.

#7 of 8 by toking on Tue Jun 22 17:31:40 1999:

isn't flying the coolest thing? If I could afford it, I"d never step on
solid ground ever again

#8 of 8 by bookworm on Thu Jun 24 18:47:23 1999:

for me it was more or less a spiritual experience.  That's why, after I 
managed to get  "off the ground", I lapsed a bit into the "spiritual" 
aspect.

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