M. Frost
The Truth About Wings
On a rocket ship
…………………………………………..in space, you learn
the truth about wings,…………. how air,
not gravity, achieves flight,
…………………………………………………………………………….still
the birds disoriented, the down
and the up without
the weight
of sky
………………………………………………………………….windless
……………………………………………………….reflection
………………………………..of feathers
……………………..on glass
…………..against a gale
of stars
_______________
M. Frost’s poetry appears in Abyss & Apex, as well as other venues including Eye to the Telescope, The Hopkins Review, Star*Line, and Strange Horizons. She is a member of the SFPA.
Author’s Comments/Backstory: Genesis of the poem: When I was young, I wanted to be a Xenoveterinarian. That was before I got glasses and, given my poor sight, was told I couldn’t be a military pilot, a prerequisite at the time to astronaut. So I did the more feasible thing and nipped the “Xeno-” prefix off my career—but I never removed it from my dreams.
How animals transit space has stuck with me all these years, spawning both prose and poetry. I’ve studied murmurations—the rules starlings use to flock—stay close; not so close you collide; match your neighbor, move towards the center. (You can write algorithms that reproduce bird behavior in virtual models.) I wondered what the rules were in zero G.
Surprise, flight is about air, not gravity. Birds can fly upside down—often by accident—in space.
I got sucked in, merged this academic pursuit with a decades-long process to grow the world in which I write. The truth is this is Olive-the-parrot. She appears in other poems too; she is among the most favored of my characters to fledge this year. Watch out—she’s fast and fearless—you might only catch the reflection of her wing as she banks past the porthole against the backdrop of a starry, starry night.
Editor’s Notes: Feather image credit (by kjpargeter by Freepik)