Ballet: Birds above the Ship

1. First Curtain

Four women stand
in white. An electric line
halves their bodies. Men in black
dance by them. Bodies melting into
a sea between joints.
Everything crouches. Slides.

2. Second Curtain

On dream geography, we hold
Time to our throats. Broken glass.
Dancers collect the pieces.

An arm becomes a chest. Moment
widens into a year. Year sinks through
an eyelid.

We remain at a border.

3. Third Curtain

Swan Lake: a junction of weather. Sun
deep on palace steps. Rain in secret notches.
Then light again. As they dance
a silver vessel enters a dark
impatient sea.