Shadows & Dust [poetry]

Lifted in Stillness

Author's Note: Written as part of a dance/poetry collaboration project with Atrocious Poets. The painting is one of mine and was used in the video for the project. 

Lifted in stillness.

Never at rest. Tension,

a ribbon dripping down

my spinal column,

spooling to the floor.

I sink my feet deeper.

The earth reaches back,

tendril roots weaving

between my toes as

thicker shoots caress

my instep. I raise my arms,

carving pathways through

the air with the spread of

my fingers. Chin follows

wrist in an orchestra of

opposing forces. Muscles

draw taut as I rise, as I fall,

elasticine fibers memory-

rich from countless hours

of choreographed

isolation. In form, I am

weightless, a moth wing

suspended in crystalline

amber. The moth knows,

though, the price of flight

—slowly building vast

reserves of strength,

learning technique and

control through the trial

and error of repeated

practice. Flight begins at

ground level. I learned to

use the earth early on.

Each push against it

builds the feet, lifts the

entirety of the body

closer to the sky.