Dr. Ryan David Leack: In the Dark
Photo: Joanna C. Valente
Flying Kites in the Dark
Before I leave, night draws us near.
Stars hang from the neck of the sky
like small bright jewels
mirroring moonlight.
We send up a kite.
The wind responds with a tug,
gentle tension lifting us as if above
the invisible black ground.
Our legs curl up and down
into themselves like soft springs,
the taut string carrying us across
the undulating waves of blackness,
the tall, swaying blades of grass
pressed into the cold, damp earth.
Can you see it in the dark,
the watermarks of memories,
the impressions of generations rising?
Dr. Ryan David Leack teaches writing and rhetoric at the University of Southern California. He’s published poetry in Chiron Review, Pif, and Westwind, among other journals, and also served as Editor-in-Chief of Pomona Valley Review for seven years.
