Simple machines
Let us imagine the machinery
the cogs the ratchets the pawls
laid out on the floor
then being meticulously assembled
and oiled the gauge calibrated …
Could Icarus take flight?
Forging the sky the weight of myth
the blue the white the colossal clouds
soft-limbed and below
the sea muscular sculpted
immense and breathing pulsing
against an iron-rimmed horizon …
Simple machines a lever a wedge
a bit of pushing and pulling
another turn of the screw
a tightening a loosening
a wheel within a wheel
an inclination
the Minotaur in the labyrinth
running scared hungry
running into walls
gone off the rails
another child on the loose
lost