JOHNMICHAEL SIMON POETRY

It’s perfectly true, she says

I see geese flying over clouds

like compass needles

 

wheeling at times

in spiral galaxy arms

waiting for slowcoaches to catch up

 

as far below

akimbo on a frozen lake

nine years old, red skirt and scarf

 

skating in huge hissing circles

she spots the flight and

music dancing in her eyes

 

takes off and joins the whirling flock

a weightless balloon

their beaks and flapping hearts

 

now one with hers

 

later she tells friends and parents

no one believes her

except her grandmother

 

and she’s been gone now twenty years