DEAR KITE HEAVEN,


​the sky blue and pink leg you have taken away         boneless
                i want back

that faith in a diamond flying                          fear flies with it
extends the expanse               until death do we part              until a new bloom of body         
                  grounds          a plane

         i call them legs                 i call them to stand on                                     and abuse
        
                  i call them throats
i kick them in no matter how small the itch
        
                  to walk past the lightning strike
         in the landfill of the severed legs of kites and humans
        
                  how do you move in semaphore?
if i can speak triangles and quadrants correctly
                                                             axis          if you understand
         i have tied my toe with yellow string for a year tight
                                                                         and tied that string to a kite ascending
the path of vanished alphabets


                                                             if i should see a single bird



​

RYAN BOLLENBACH is an MFA candidate in the University of Alabama MFA program. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Sonora Review, Puerto Del Sol, Booth: A Journal, the Ampersand Review, and elsewhere. Find him on twitter at @SilentAsIAm.