Flight is easy (from Substitute Intelligence)

March 28, 1980

“Flight is easy,”

She said, leaning over

The bar to help me

Write a poem,

Staring straight at my

Crooked script

To make sure I got

Every word right,

“Just lift your wings

And fly.

It involves one

Ingredient

The will to fly.”

She laughed

At this

As if she didn’t

Believe it, but

Went on anyway.

“Just as independence

Involves

Freedom,” she said.

And I could almost hear

The flapping of wings

In my ears

And feel the sun

Warming something

In my heart.

“I am content,”

She said, and as I wrote

continuing on

Where the poem

Left off,
“I see you, as I’ve

Seen you for a while,

But you are not a deer

Fleeing before me

In the woods,

But a chain,

Linked to eternity,

Linked to a two car garage,

A job in the supermarket,

Sunday sermons

And the misery of

The day to day,
Love is simple

Just lift your heart and try

It involves one ingredient,”

She said, staring straight

Into my eyes,

“an equal partner,” she said

Softly, “but it’s not me.”