• • •

jane russell 1946

howard
dreamt of her
designed
steel-wound breasts
suspended high
when the war began
he filled his palms
with her engines
hanging from alloy bones
the carefully machined
wind tunnel model
with spinners
smoothing angry air
measuring
the precise distance
between her nipples
and
before the XF-11
poked its mosquito nose
into desert hands
fedora askew
he had unfolded
greasy haired sleep
into her lap
his hands
shaping the flow of air
around her frame
and she was
never a dull moment
separating
his future from
hammered aluminum past
streamlined
crossing her heart
hoping
to fly

Hughes XF-11 July 7, 1946.

the shape of evening air

let’s begin this again
let’s play pretend

with our hands
suspended from our arms
in purple-pulled dusk
we’ll try to fly
from rounded sandstones
with fingers of feathers
on wings held unhushed
beating loud against night
cracking hollow bones of day
corroded thin and grey

we’ll take off this time for certain
winding rubber sheets of muscle within
so fast they'll slide and twist
the thrust of airfoil arms
with a smooth stone in each fist
as we transform leaping lungs
into pistons pumping
into turbines shrieking thin
our flying machine hymn

and this time around
earth will fall from under wet shoes
we’ll climb inside nacreous clouds
with shoulder blades of wood and wire
wings bloody with black crosses
our teeth machine guns
hissing white fire
and we’ll write our names
fury and delight
across doped canvas night

so
spin spinning spinning under starting stars
with our arms wide and tails tucked tight

let’s begin this again
let’s play pretend

dropped stitches

trauma skin
the surgeon’s blade
moving molecules of air
the gentle grace of breath warm leaking around masks
the quality of light on torn muscle
the quantity of sight
condensing
to one point

collapsing : the weight of time
collapsing : the weight of lead

chaotic skin
in this high speed film
the bullet’s passage
seen from the side
slow motion
stretching snapping
flesh
moving in shockwaves
curves perfect until
crashing into
each other
a shoreless sea

expanding : the roundness of space
expanding : the expansion of gases

unwashed skin
it’s out of the bottle
no pouring it back
cheap carpet soaked
with the genie’s fluids
and
: my head in my hands
: my head in my hands
i know why
i see why
and
we could only watch
everyone dies alone
every one dies
alone
we could only
watch

collapsing : the neurochemical processes
collapsing : the logic gates swinging swinging

punctured skin
needle into wet leather
soft as finger shadows
a line to pull
the walls of the wound
closed
for season

dusk
moving light and shadow
on the television screen

we wait for news

: expanding
: collapsing