A calling from the trees, a sudden sound
swelling from branch to branch,
surrounding me.
The air fills, quivers with a gulp
of swallows then I see it –
a falcon coaxed by thermal tides,
golden wings stretching in the light
that lingers. Like a growl rumbling
from the neighbor’s cat over its nest
of bones, the air vibrates until it moves on.
Back home I run a bath, waver
between salts or bubbles — bits of mineral
for my aches or silky feathering for a treat?
Room warm and steaming, my skin pinks.
Perched on tub’s edge, my foot hovers,
tests the heat. Water welcoming, I slide in,
dream hollow bones, heavy flesh, a chance to sing.
Becoming a Horizon
KB Ballentine’s seventh collection, Edge of the Echo, was released May 2021 with Iris Press. Her earlier books can be found with Blue Light Press, Middle Creek Publishing, and Celtic Cat Publishing. Published in Atlanta Review and Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, among others, her work also appears in anthologies including The Strategic Poet (2021), Pandemic Evolution (2021), and In Plein Air (2017). Learn more at www.kbballentine.com.