Amy E. Bartell, Entrance, 2018
Mixed media collage
Your father clasped his hands together,
made a stirrup for your foot and then
one, two, three! flung you into the air,
flint you into the airfield
flipped you into the airbrick
a thousand drops of ocean gleaming
thousand octaves droplets cleaning
your greatest childhood dilemma
solved for an instant—
you are both bird and fish!
(birdie fish coat, burden
witchcraft)—
an air-born, salt-licked creature
who must pull in her wings
pulse in her wishbones
punch in more windows
and stop laughing
coughing, lamping, stop lasting
before you hit bottom.