Early spring and everything
fuzzed green green leaning
against windows the inside
of the house greened by sun
through unfurling maples a
season of fresh birds learning
to work wings against the whims
of wind or how their heft resists
uplift I never knew how little
fledglings understood flying
until my dog cornered one to kill
on a lark I never realized how
and feel its heart hammering
against my palm polished
beads of its eyes swiveling
back and forth in confusion
I set it down in the garden
where my shepherd could not
go and an hour later it was
clear that fright made a great
motivator for flight we only
need to see a hawk flexing on
the pedestal of an updraft to
acknowledge the superiority
of birds our toddlers learn
that walking is just tipping
forward and putting a foot
out while birds get the hang
of it and forget all about
falling we say we’re empty
nesters when we shove our
last child out to fly free in
metaphor only though some
of us can’t tell if ours will
figure out the formula of
feathers or how to balance
flap with soar or how to gather
the right twigs to make a home
so clumsy are they at releasing
themselves to the sky.
–
Sonia Greenfield is the author of Helen of Troy is High AF (2023), All Possible Histories (2022), Letdown (2020), American Parable (2018), and Boy with a Halo at the Farmer’s Market (2015). She lives with her family in Minneapolis where she teaches at Normandale College, edits the Rise Up Review, and advocates for neurodiversity and the decentering of the cis/het white hegemony.