Cheetah with Wings
Dolphin Sigh
Romeo's Ghost
She is heavy with the wings that make her a thing of air. She hovers beside the moon. She flies above the tall grass swaying on the plain. She floats above the water hole as well. Most animals do not understand her, especially cheetahs who have no wings. Like people, they know both envy and the gracious desire to reward excellence. “Who does she think she is?” asks one cheetah without wings. “Why, she is the mother of the ostrich and the sand flea,” answers a second cheetah without wings. “No, she is a fugitive from justice,” remarks a very earthbound rhinoceros with a jealous little hiss. A panting gazelle says with a sigh, “Her feet never touch the earth.” “Here she comes,” says an elephant while flapping his huge gray ears. “I’m going to join her. You just wait and see.”
Breathe it in,
this inevitable invisibility.
Let it settle
like a seed inside your lung.
Exhale,
then leave it by the boat
surrounded by talking dolphins.
Are they renegades?
Not really. No one has ever said so,
though people do say that
the book where you get your opinions
is closed to the public.
That’s why I can’t help much.
You control the future.
Let me enter.
Take down that “Beach Closed” sign.
I want my breath to mingle
with dolphin sigh the way yours does.
Let me have it:
the inevitable invisibility
settling like a seed inside my lung.
Laughter shoots the arrow of glee into the red space of happiness where conundrums pace like tigers caged from birth, & Shakespeare’s at it again, playing the artful comedian, creating gentle quips to mend the heart of Romeo’s ghost. Though laughter usually heals & Shakespeare wins the crowd, the star-crossed Romeo will not revive. Humor isn’t the type of liquor that sorrow is, & Romeo’s ghost guzzles pain all day and all night until laughter personifies grief.
Sonja James is the author of two collections of poetry: Baiting the Hook (1999) and Children of the Moon (2004). Her poetry has appeared in various periodicals such as The Iowa Review, Margie, 32 Poems, The Sow's Ear Poetry Review, The South Carolina Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Verse Daily, Pembroke Magazine, and Poet Lore, among others. New work will be published in Crab Creek Review, The South Carolina Review, Potomac Review, The Chaffin Journal, Lips, and The Journal. Among her honors is a Pushcart Prize nomination. In 2007, she was the co-winner of the Sotto Voce Award. She has two sons and resides in Martinsburg, West Virginia.
