the rock cast the stone to flight

earth-children murmur,
daedalus, where yo baby boy at?
nexus fingers splotch wax and wing,
weathered genesis,

and daedalus looks at baby boy:
he; icarus;
παθοσ
and βιοσ and μυθοσ. the old clay bones
stoop to loop a leather belt through
the buckle:

icarus, you gonna fly:
we gotta live or we gonna die,
he says silent and theoretical,
heart heavy with neurons' fire.
a checklist 'k, 'k, cera, cera;
from stardust, God
whittled man; and now the architect rattles his
old clay bones, carbon ringing
in the atmosphere. (morning
light) a cyclorama, plastering blue on the cretin
waves, waves, waves.

daddy, why you cryin,
says the boy in a dying
fall, watching the words spiral around his wingtips.

it part of the story,
he says in a sigh—
the breath rocks the minotaur's bones dry. letters
in the ululation collapse latin and greek on his lips—
it part of the story.

son, dont go high, dont go low;
son, go as I go.
son, dont go high, dont go low;
son, go as I go.

abyssal salt stirs on his sad lips,
daedalus kisses his boy's head. letters
in the silence collapse latin and greek on his heart;
boy, you gonna know glory,
it part of the story.

daedalus, where yo baby boy at?
daedalus sings the bronze at cumae, metallurgy
in the chords—

icarus comes crashing down, more
meteor than man; swaddled in the celestial
threads of dreams, icarus comes crashing down.

daedalus, daedalus,
aint you gonna tell the story?

freak funk cool slides the sweat
down daedalus's face, burning
words on his eyes: all
God's people gonna tell they story; all
God's people gonna shout

amen. daedalus sings the blues at cumae,
but he doesn't weave his grief in his gift—
stuffed cheeks chiseled in his

λογοσ lacrimarum:

tale of tears.

daedalus, aint you gonna tell the story?
call out the rock-dwelling earthlings
cast in wings' shadow. he burns up for baby boy,

but they are given the light of hope.

Bryan Reid lives in Normal, Illinois and Republic, Missouri and, sometimes, Lake Forest, Illinois. When he isn't driving all along the Central time zone, he is working on his B.A. at Illinois State University. He is previously unpublished, but has premiered the one act play "Ephesians 5:15" at Illinois State University's Annual Playwrights Workshop.

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