Patricia Hegnauer
Flying With the Flock

winging
to home lake
dark     fog     cold     winds
rustling     feathers     bone deep

rains slashing pinions     banking right
familiar dark     deep water     flock echoes in ears
feathered whirrings     lighting     burnt air

voices open new path     bank left
banking
bank     left     bank     left

blind     flying
trusting familiar pull
home     decline to hidden lake
impossible to see     fog     fog     fog
drawn by spraying     churning     sloshing
wearywings
pushing     hard     pushing      pushing

level off      level off      level off

blind diving     wet wedge     caught     cold winds
trapping sounds     others     speaking
stay     stay     stay     stay     stay     stay     stay
feet  forward
wings backflapping     rainy walls
talons reaching     out     into black squalling
water     waves     warm   greensmells     homelake
forest     earth     pines
feet into the storm
waves breaking
beaks down
falling
falling
falling     wings out
push wings     parachute
stop
stop     stopping     stop
splash      splashing      splashed
feathers     bodies     bones   falling     diving
bouncing     backwards     bouncing     forward

home     backwards       home     forwards
home head first
home      home      home      home