The Kite Elegies

1.if my bones were hollowand my heart a kiteI might flirt with clouds,wag my tail of torn sheetsand twine, charm the windto lift me pas de deuxinto the sky, a danceof hawks and dragons,tissue paper pulse and crackle,you might be my tether,my hillside,or I may cleave tothe wind and snapthe delicate cordthat binds us

2.my heart, the kitesoars a mile intothe clouds (cirrusstrangers sighingat the end of the bar,smoke rings thundering,flickering neon — aurorassinging a last embrace)I am a dancing paper birdan origami swan, fierceand untethered, driftinginto trouble.

3.trouble begins with a holein your heart, a rip, if you arepaper,

and when rain cascades acrossyour body, you will fall,bridle twisting, rag tail heavy,a brutish storm,

I kiss the sun, but stilldescend in an awkward tango,spine yielding to the devilin the wind, spiralinglike leaves in autumnbefore they scatteron pavement.

Oh! impact — sparks flyfrom the power line and I,who danced in the clouds,a wonder of lift and grace,crash in an oak tree,my tail raveledand bridle, cut,no more face,just bamboostruts and spinenot kite, not heart,just gravity.

4.old kite stringwrapped aroundan oak branchfor so long, it hasembedded in the bark,

the struts and spinelost — tinder or trash —

but this string,after that first rain,lightning, thundershredding the sky,its loosened tanglelanding bebop rag-doll after the fall,conjured a new wayto name itself —now “branch,”now “tree.”