Wing Drying

Forgive, forget, hand, heart, heel, head, Thumb, thimble, needle, stitch, thread, sew, Roof, rafter, kettle, kitchen glow, Nest, nestle, whisper, woo, win, wed, Kiss, cradle, linger, lisp, love, fold, Woman and child to have and hold . . . And thanks for bread and meat and meal For milk and mother, salt and soul, Home, hollyhock, hope, help, and heal, Father and fire, God and goal, For son and seed, and man, and men, And life and breath and death. Amen —Henry Tim Chambers WING DRYING My images of hidden fears are shaped like the turkey buzzards that stand in sunlight on the struts of an electric tower and spread their wings, rattling their feathers over smooth grey metal parts that cut the sky into pyramidal blues and rearrange the open space until it thinks outloud and speaks in shapes that scream with light. —Judith L. Schwab 27 ...