Lit eZine Vol 8 | p-14 | POETRY | We Should Talk About This Obsession (I) – Manic Sylph Writes… Poetry & Thoughts by Mona Soorma

SHORT POEM

WE SHOULD TALK ABOUT THIS OBSESSION (I)
by Carol Edwards

A woman flying over houses — *AI-Generated Image*

We should talk about this obsession
	I have with flying
and how my fear of losing control
prevents me from leaving the ground.
		(Though isn’t that true of everything?)

I think I stopped having flying dreams
when I realized I could drift too high
get lost in jet streams
die
so far above the little houses
patchwork lawns, forests, fields.

Freedom at its freest
has no tethers
no gravity
no direction
	except up, away
	all the way to space
	to freeze and suffocate.

I still wish I could fly
in my dreams
but reality has too strong a grip
thick woven roots
growing from my feet
just pieces of me riding the wind
as crisped fallen leaves.

Visit Carol Edwards on her website

Carol Edwards is a northern California native transplanted to southern Arizona. She grew up reading fantasy and classic novels, climbing trees, and acquiring frequent grass stains. She currently enjoys a (decaf) coffee addiction and raising her succulent army. Her poetry has been published in myriad anthologies, periodicals, and blogs, including Space & Time, Red Penguin Books, Southern Arizona Press, White Stag Publishing, The Post Grad Journal, Written Tales Magazine, The Wild Word, Black Spot Books, Lit Shark Magazine, and Sublimation. Her debut poetry collection, The World Eats Love, released April 2023 from The Ravens Quoth Press. IG @practicallypoetical, FB/X/Bluesky @practicallypoet, TikTok @practicallypoetic