From my window I count seven children,
all running in different directions.
Strangers materialize, walking straight
down the center of the street ––
roofers hammer out coded messages.
Down the block, someone slams a door,
startling birds into riotous, swirling flight.
Perhaps it was a sorcerer’s door,
a door of dreams, or time, or fate ––
a door through which, in another age,
the ancient, pitying gods might come
and go, speaking in riddles, setting
the stage again and again for the hero,
the applauded savior, the chosen.
Imagine such a door. Imagine such gods.
It’s nearly noon. Gravity takes hold.
Icarus, man-child deaf to his father
and betting all on wax and muscle,
soars overhead.
~ Michael Lasater
Hutchinson native Michael Lasater is Professor of New Media at Indiana University South Bend. With degrees from Oberlin, Juilliard, and Syracuse University, he has performed with ensembles including the Metropolitan Opera, produced documentaries on poetry, and currently exhibits art video internationally. His poetry has appeared in Kansas Time + Place.
Guest Editor Maril Crabtree’s latest poetry collection, Fireflies in the Gathering Dark, is a 2018 Notable Kansas Book selection. In addition to three published chapbooks, her work has appeared in Canyon Voices, Main Street Rag, Coal City Review, I-70 Review, Earth’s Daughters, and others.
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 