Feather / Leaf

By Barbara Seaman

Mostly you hang upside down

like a bat, your taproot tied

more to sky than earth.

Falling comes naturally.

You congregate

in kind,

making soft serrate waves

that lap and overlap,

snug as fish scales.

Slick in rain, often stippled, curled,

always veined, sometimes

elliptical as an eye

(what a view!)

here’s how I know you:

What moves me

moves you: wind spirit

and a lifting light.

– Barbara Seaman lives in Lawrence.