Anthology

Gravity Won

Kevin Clay

And Larry had wings this night
That sent him leaping over the road’s embankment
And soaring like the eagle he never was.
Over, and across, and higher still,
Until it seemed that gravity’s embrace
Would sullenly surrender.
And his clunker, battered as it was,
Would lift on crackling pillars of fire.

And Larry would smile inanely.
With cracked, brown teeth—
His green eyes wide, his boy’s face stunned—
Away from anger, bondage, sorrow, grief.
But of course, when it was over, gravity won.