He made the joyous leap
and floated
free
momentarily from worries
flesh-bound.
Brother, now, to all things light
and soaring, he feels
power in wings that dapple the earth
below in shadows
that follow then fade from sight
as he climbs that wide blue highway
narrowing
to a dead end street.
After many years in central Italy, Janet Butler relocated to the Bay Area, California. She teaches TESL in San Francisco, and lives in Victorian Alameda with Fulmi, a beautiful Spaniel she rescued and brought back with her from Italy. Poems have recently appeared in Literary Mary, Plainsongs, Locust, Miller‘s Pond, The 13th Warrior, Cutthroat, and The Chaffey Review. ”Shadowline”, a full-length collection, was published by Gatto Publishing, Scotland, 2007. She recently won first and second place HM in the Maggi H. Meyer Memorial Contest 30, sponsored by the Bay Area Poets Coalition. A chapbook, “Under Italian Skies” was recently released by Flutter Press; “To see you no more” will be published by Punkin House Press this summer.
© 2010, Janet Butler
Halfway Down the Stairs 