Mary Beth Hines: “Daughter, Flying”
DAUGHTER, FLYING
Born aching for air, blue, you chased
free—freestyle, free-form—a freak
you said, until you mastered sail—
fastest whirl on the block, patent
leather barreling past boys, taunt, thought,
to catch a breath, a breeze, to break
open the plane’s small door,
you leapt and soared, owl-eyed, for half-
a-second white-gold-sun-blind,
untethered star, snapping rapt, free
fall, wings for arms, back arched,
thumbs-up, a tandem jump, hurtling
down, clasped through fog, rupture
of clouds, hiss-whistle of space to glimpse
of green, grate of legs up, legs up
Mary Beth Hines’ debut poetry collection, Winter at a Summer House, is forthcoming from Kelsay Books. Her poems, short fiction, and non-fiction appear in journals such as Brilliant Flash Fiction, Crab Orchard Review, I-70 Review, Panoply, and SWWIM Every Day, among many others.