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Patricia Prime

Wings over Water

at first glance

you are a butterfly in flight wings flap as you dance above the red-stained Japanese bridge ready to land on a blank page

at first glance

your head bobs from side to side like the cautious mallards on the river a thousand words and lines the tools of writing tucked into your backpack in the spring when cherry blossom petals flutter to the ground or in darkest winter when the sun disappears behind the Kamai Ranges

at first glance

you are a heron wings beat and legs tangle as you swoop along the riverbank your eyes on the light

a harrier hawk
scrolls the valley
its wings
almost touch
the azure ceiling

wildflowers
in the meadow
you scrawl
words across the page
illegibly

the cramp
of your gnarled hand
over the paper
a part of yourself
a part of the poem