The Moment You Cease Motion, and Into the Feathery Lightness
by Michele Rappoport
art: "El mundo de Anita” by Juan José Clemente
The Moment You Cease Motion
A person lives within an inch of evaporation. Every night you die, skin and nails soft. The heart, that feverish bayonet, pierces the practical bearing of clearness. Ice envelopes the wound. Blood loiters, wet and exposed. A vein pulses like a charm more perfect than dust in winter. And in the skin, the perfect quietude of a body close to completeness. _______ I wrote this piece with words found in The Military Handbook & Soldier’s Manual of Information Including Official Articles of War. Beadle & Company Publishers. New York. 1861.
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Into the Feathery Lightness
The monsoon scrubs the neighborhood clean, leaves its calling card in palm debris, puddles like ellipses. My dog pulls toward them for a sniff. A sudden rustle of wings and her head snaps up / like ellipses bullets fly / The doves that usually perch in a line on the arm of the lamp post fly over our heads like a thrown scarf. I long to soar into that feathery lightness, see nothing the way unfocused eyes see everything clearly / dove debris, like puddles thrown / Another dog approaches. I tighten the leash. We fall into our usual routine, two well-rehearsed actors on a suburban stage. Sit, watch me. Her body quivers, each muscle straining to see / a school explodes on a suburban stage / On the corner, from her flag-draped house / a sudden rustle of wings / the neighbor waves so hard I think the weather will change / sit watch me / in the distance / under my desk in Uvalde / roofers fire their nail guns / into the feathery lightness
Michele Rappoport is an American writer, artist, and teacher living in the desert southwest. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in a variety of literary journals, including River Teeth, Salamander, Delmarva Review, The Centifictionist, and Chautauqua. When she’s not writing, she stares at colorful pieces of paper and makes collages. Michele also co-teaches a creative writing workshop at an Arizona state prison.
