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Wings are remarkable structures

Late last spring, I wrote two shape poems in close succession—each took the shape of a wing.

When I started writing them, shape had not been my intention. Each poem just grew that way–first, The truth about wings, out now from Abyss & Apex. The second, The Structure of Flight, for an event in my professional life (rookie move, write a shape poem for a public reading…but as I said, the poem just grew that way).

Poems have their own ideas about what they want to be, sometimes. It’s also possible that I had so much fun writing another shape poem, Pterosaur (published last fall on Strange Horizons), that I couldn’t help myself.

What I enjoy about Abyss & Apex is that they encourage authors to share the genesis of the work, which you can read after the poem. The truth about wings is part of a set about animal travel in space, something that long has fascinated me. The wings in this poem belong to Olive, a parrot you met last fall in What Noah Knew from Project Abeona. Stay tuned for The Ark, out later this spring from Jupiter’s Eye.