Flight Risk - Poem

"Flight Risk" is a poem I wrote in 2023 and includes a companion piece of digital artwork. No associated commentary is necessary. I will post the artwork separately.

Flight Risk

by Brian Seiler

I. 

Unsettled sleep of late, that struggle
to quiet the networked marionettes,
those storming mouths like murder holes
And so: At night I dream of escaping –
over the Alps or maybe the Berlin Wall –
in grieving hot air balloons, buffed in soot
to match the bruised horizon
Days fade
We hide in gaslit castle passages 
sheltered by tapestries of rain splattering the silent stones

II.
Whether past or future scenes
these are not dreams – no –
but rather survival routines
Often with a partner, shrewd children
and boots with buckshot soles
An odd way to sooth myself to sleep – perhaps–
but I have built my barriers.
For now I have forced the fascists to sulk in shadow
ever sharpening their long knives

III.
At night we walk, always a whisper ahead
Every step brings solace in skirting the searchlights
but in daylight the black robes, gathered six over three,
intone the founding myth: smiles and smiles and villainous lies
fueled by – why dissemble? – fear, immeasurable
And so with city sirens whining
we unfold worn blankets, hope forged
from priceless passports sewn into linings