by Irina Tall (Novikova)
Permission to Land
Above the spinning fans, toward another dream
perched on the edge. It’s always flight, isn’t it?
Consider the inception, weight of first wings
forged of duct tape and moving boxes. It was all
about the running start and you got yours at the end
of the block where the mangy dog barked behind
an unconvincing fence against a rope forever
almost giving way and yet, it held–– the rope
if not the wings.
I’ll run and run, you announced to our father your
impending triumph to reach the end, you meant it,
and pointed to the air above the canyon, above the
rock we saw together once where painted hands pressed
stone. Dad! you cried out, I’m gonna go out like that! and
when the air hit, the plan was to soar. Always when
the air hit, they were thinking, these men and their wings
to break their own hearts with this earnest intent.
Our father, still half in shadow
of the war, reminded you that Icarus
had tried that once. Remember, son
plans willed in prisons on earth are often
flying into heaven. Give us these wings, to hold
for a moment, our daily bread, this trespass against
gravity, stealing us into temptation to deliver us
from the dust at our feet. It only took a moment
for the first feather to drip into his face,
a cautionary tale.
Facts were facts, our father said, after all,
and there went another son, flying to
the barracks of another war and then
came the waiting years of blinding heat
and with only the belongings and a closed
lid to receive, all that was left of that once
and future body were your wings.
Stacey C. Johnson writes and teaches in San Diego County. She is a graduate of the MFA program at San Diego State University and creator of The Unknowing Project. Her work appears in Oyster River Pages, Pacific Review, and Fiction International, as well as various other publications. Her poetry chapbook Flight Songs is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press (February 2024). You can find her at staceycjohnson.com. On the space formerly known as twitter: @StaceCJohnson Instagram: @thisisstaceycjohnson.
Irina Tall (Novikova) is an artist, graphic artist, illustrator. She graduated from the State Academy of Slavic Cultures with a degree in art, and also has a bachelor’s degree in design.
The first personal exhibition “My soul is like a wild hawk” (2002) was held in the museum of Maxim Bagdanovich. In her works, she raises themes of ecology, in 2005 she devoted a series of works to the Chernobyl disaster, draws on anti-war topics. The first big series she drew was The Red Book, dedicated to rare and endangered species of animals and birds. Writes fairy tales and poems, illustrates short stories. She draws various fantastic creatures: unicorns, animals with human faces, she especially likes the image of a man – a bird – Siren. In 2020, she took part in Poznań Art Week. Find her on Instagram here or here.