Icarian

Amy McCann

Gulls puncture the blue between 

 kites: translucent（透明的）, cross-boned, 

cellophane（玻璃纸） animals leashed 

 to each child's wrist. 

Some unusual flyers: octopus（章鱼）, 

 brontosaur（雷龙）. A man taking Polaroids 

alternates between his stumbling 

 toddler and a sea star 

suckling basalt（玄武岩）. The water endless 

 tics, trinkets of light. I soothe（安慰，缓和） my palm 

over sand, trying to erase 

 any evidence of our being 

terrestrial. Matted feathers 

 barb the surface, nib my palm. 

O cosseter, O caravel! I am fast 

 bound for far shores, already failing 

to find the desired—anise, 

 apricots impossible in this soil. 

As always, I'll spend tonight chastely 

 kissing our limitations, bunked 

beside you, a board braced between 

 our radiant（光芒四射的） groins, my affection 

folding into itself, into something 

 engineered to be unlikely 

yet airborne—diamonds of tissue, 

 tape, and string, delicate 

harness for the invisible, 

 variable currents. Beautiful 

impediment. Everything given, 

 one way or another, a working wing.