BELOW

Above trees and rooftops

is the range of symbols:

banner, cross, and star;

air war, the mode of those

who live by symbols; the pure

abstraction of travel by air.

Here a spire holds up

an angel with trump and wings;

he’s in his element.

Another lifts a hand

with forefinger pointing up

to admonish that all’s not here.

All’s not. But I aspire

downward. Flyers embrace

the air, and I’m a man

who needs something to hug.

All my dawns cross the horizon

and rise, from underfoot.

What I stand for

is what I stand on.