Angels Flying Backwards

by Iris Miller

From the book:

Flying to Leningrad on a Winter Night

I face the void with Valium
and a needlepoint of daisies.

Squeezed into a window seat,
suspended between the black Atlantic
and the sky with its stars
that have already burned out,
I pull white yarn through canvas
making petals one by one.

I look for signs.

Orion skims the wing
of the plane like a cosmic benediction.

Across the aisle - two nuns
in traditional garb. I'm not
religious, but we wouldn't crash
with them aboard, would we?

I focus on bringing daisies
into being, stars of the earth strewn
across the sky by my own hand.

My friend, playing solitaire
with tiny magnetic cards, is bored
with my petals. She'd like
me to make a center for a change.

I switch to yellow yarn,
feel calmer. The petals flying
off in every direction
will finally have something
to hold onto.

28 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Iris Miller grew up in Reading, Massachusetts. She has worked as an art teacher, visual artist, clinical art therapist, shamanic healer. She summers on Monhegan Island in Maine.

Librarian note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Iris^^Miller