flight

sometimes light is heavy
the day pressing upon us
an urgent agenda
spelled out in shadows.
we scavenge this landscape
for clues:
the shoe is a hint,
run;
the bone is a hint,
dig;
the construction-paper heart
says love is more fragile
and made of trees.
you can’t decipher
the screech of starlings
on the telephone line
and neither can i.
they are a red herring.
they throw us off the scent.
sometimes light is heavy.
sometimes heavy things
can take off.