Through Turbulence

Issue 7 | Winter 2021 | Merie Kirby

The snow goose flies on, steadies us, is stubborn and strong.
Her wings slowly sweep beneath the plane’s wings,
the quiver I feel is a heart beating, and when we break
the clouds and Minneapolis grows beneath us in the dark,
the goose slows and we slip from her back and float down,
over houses where people wash dinner dishes,
turn on the TV and dish up bowls of ice cream.
Soon we will be back on the ground, as safe as anyone else,
my eyes open and the geese honking above me, small again.

Merie Kirby grew up in California and attended the College of Creative Studies at UCSB for her B.A. in Literature. She earned her M.F.A. from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She lives in Grand Forks, ND, and teaches at the University of North Dakota. She is the author of The Dog Runs On (Finishing Line Press, 2014) and The Thumbelina Poems (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2015). In 2016 and 2013 she received the North Dakota Council on the Arts Individual Artist Grant. In September 2014 she was a participating poet in the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project, writing and posting to the 30/30 Project blog a new poem a day for 30 days. Her poems have been published in Quartet Journal, Sheila-na-gig Online, Avocet, and other journals; she also writes operas and art songs in collaboration with composers.

Orange Blossom Review

A Journal of Creative Arts

Through Turbulence