fetched in a screech
of downhill sky
Icarus, pitching
met the wind
coming at him
through unwaxed straps
learned
the wrong way up, to fly
Icarus: untied
out of upswept
plaster I built him
leaping with unpared wires
his ragged armature
cradled a hollowness
at core, yet undeterred
the sculpture warred with air
Icarus: flawed
the plaster figure
and the real man
drove themselves through me
all one rain-long Spring
until a creature clumsily conformed
spilt upside down
Icarus: unwarned
then came curious weeks
I left him standing
precarious
on the shed roof - every wind
promised a landing
yet, great white bat
he remained
shaking out scarred wings
tremulously restrained
bits fell off
perhaps to reconnoitre
Icarus: the loiterer
a late April storm
flashy and rowdy
took him
lightning-struck
who had yearned for light
now broken-backed
undone
his blind face
terrible with the knowledge
of the ground
its last embrace
Icarus: unbound
