Pinioning
Josh Bettinger
I am still impressionable. At least
that is the measure I lend my dreams
that is the measure I lend my dreams
when they have a hard time restarting
in the stolen screenlight
of our brief interactions. We scuttle
a dynasty of furtives
moving across each other in the hallway
penumbras of our home; some bees
in the hemlock, car–shaped
thistle, neighbors in a roundabout sadness—
this entire universe of water to wade in.
When we lift each other up we become
a consecutive mechanism to get away with,
or from, flight without flight; arms unending
except for their ends. I believe
that we object for the heart like a surgeon.
Josh Bettinger is the author of the chapbook A Dynamic Range Of Various Designs For Quiet (2019), from GASHER. Recent publications include Handsome Poetry, SLICE, flock, Columbia Journal, Atlas Review, Crazyhorse, and Boston Review, among others. He lives in Northern California with his family.
© Variant Literature Inc 2021