Ephemeroptera

Planes crash with depressing infrequency.
Repetition of falling feathers, dun
Dutch feet, makes us forget there was only
One Icarus. He lived fast and died young.
I wonder if he inspired a spree
Of Greek jumpers, the way Werther blew out
The brains of European kids, if he,
Pre-sex, androgynous, was the last shout
On Sappho’s tongue as she broke up into
A thousand shards that we’d puzzle over,
Mazes where the tiptoeing Minotaur
Never strikes, just waits, out of sight, hovers,
Drags it out, you stumbling around with torch
Fizzling like the sun foundering in the sea.

Brian Cooney comes originally from New York and now lives in Spokane, WA, where he teaches literature at Gonzaga University. He got his Ph.D from University of South Carolina. His poems have appeared in The Bicycle Review, New York Dreaming, and Burningword Literary Journal.