Devils & Islands: Poems

Fashions of 1903

Fashions of 1903 Except that, finally, it flew, The Wright machine, at this late date, Looks just as fanciful, as frail, As sketches out of Verne’s notebooks, Or Leonardo’s. One would say The ancient Chinese airscrew toys, Patents of Down East village cranks, Ambitious steamer-glider schemes, Professor Langley’s “aerodromes,” As projects are more plausible. To pilot this construct or that, No choice comes readily to mind. Da Vinci’s nude spreadeagled man? In period, at least. A type Of Richard Harding Davis, say, To man the full-scale aerodrome? (Its own mechanic was in fact At such controls as Langley put.) At throttle on the glider-steamer Casey Jones, brave engineer? The coin is tossed and Orville flies— An anticlimax, insofar As archetyping is concerned. Nothing of new archangel there, As surely man’s first flight should hint. Nor is the modest plane itself A vehicle of Lucifer. The narrow struts and linen wings 22 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. Somehow suggest arts Japanese: The piecing of the minimal, As in the later Wilbur, scarf And helmet, goggles, stiff-necked pride A bit of kamikaze shows: Divine Wind as a coming mode In flight’s long history of styles. 23 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. ...