Lift Off: Poems by Stephen Bett

Lift Off 30 : half rimed word

I am galled,
gulled
I am a gull
for punish
ment

Throw me
your scraps
& I will
dine out
for days

Gluttonous bird
starved for
months,
miscuing
on the
wind
lost at
sea
seeking
revenge
from a
half
rimed
word

Scavenger
longing for
your de-
mise

Vengeful
predator
you mean
to ask
me?

Lift Off 41 : grief & happy

Old koan she
tells me—

When we fall
in love we
sign up
for grief

No wonder the
Dali Lama
is single!

Yet we are single
so little of our
adult lives

Maybe we should
have the marriage(s)
first, & the happy
childhoods
after?

Lift Off 45 : your night sky

Take our grief away
(a-way) on phone
—Michigan,
Indiana, Florida
these last three
nights

Take our grief
be gone, fly
this way too

We are “too old
for this non-
sense” & you’re
right the Dali
Lama is
single

We came in
that way
(& fear
same
exit)

Take the pain
away just
this once,
pls

Be slender
be of heart

It is time
for intelligent
nurture not
accomplish-
ment

Be straight as
the eye that
flies across
a night
sky

I am your
night sky

Fly into mine
eyes …
woman of
the night
desert

Lift Off 49 : way station

What’s that old
standard, why
don’t you fly
me to the
moon …

Why don’t you
take my breath
away …

Fly me to the
moon
(bap bap)

Or alternately
just drop me
off in deep
space,
baby

Been my home
for months
now any-
way

Pick me up on
your way
home
desert
woman

Make it a
way station
for the
Tao

In a minimal
one or two
heart
beats

Lift Off 60 : another lift off

It’s not transitional
(one hopes)

It’s transformative

We’ll transit
to you

And then hope
to re-form,
re-align

That’s another
lift off

Another trip

Another flight

One that does
not crash
(or clash)

Such talk is
all there
for each
of us

Riding deep
(for god’s sake)

It was like yes-
terday, & all
yesterdays
back to the un-
tried heart of
childhood

Which comes full
at you from
another angle
—one
that makes
sense this
time