473420

By Nicholas Pascarella

she’s the daughter of a sister,
the premature baby
who discovered the cure
in elegant endurance;
equal opportunity killer,
dressed to the nines,
or 9th, 
332nd, 352nd...
sunkissed or frozen aluminum
in checkerboard,
red tails or blue noses,
foreign flags notched around
birdcage or bubble,
singularity
nestled behind K-14
and the merlin wizard,
belching flame
out two rows of stacks,
coloring the rivets rainbow
with the heat of war
and a thousand pumping horses.
she’s a dancer, needs
full rudder for rails,
singing
merlin’s throaty melody, 
and she rises, angelic
on the strong shoulders
of aviation legend,
and grown men
weaken at the knees.