To stunt is to flirt: you beckon,
you spurn, you beckon.
You tune up a waltz, turn to a dirge,
swing back to a waltz.
You brag about how close you hold your partner.
Your engine hesitates—how many seconds?
Your machine misses an obstacle—how many inches?
It is fatal to be too casual, though casual
is what’s demanded here,
no one wants to see the top attraction tremble.
Whatever the weather, people pay
to watch you fly,
not wait out the wind. They scream for you.
Know the limits of their patience. And yours.
Take the ship higher, faster.
Stress every inch of the ship, do things
the inventor never intended.
And then, do them upside down and backwards.