Judith Skillman
Aerie
This nest floats
on webs of light and dark
against a backdrop
of Jacob’s Ladder, Lavender,
and Scotch Broom.
A stronghold
to house the young
with wisps of flagrant straw
against flutes of air,
and the dotted aprons
of well-meaning matriarchs
who would do better
to fold up their step stools
and go back
into the kitchen.
I continue
to stare at the sun
that blinds me,
a third-generation
Polish Jew borne
into the spattered walls
of a ghetto
broken by what brought it
together—those who
lofted themselves
with acrobatic stunts
and the somersaults
of imagination
from Munich
and the gas.
Judith Skillman is is the author of Premise of Light (Tebot Bach, 2018). Her poems have appeared in Shenandoah, Seneca Review, Cimarron Review, Zyzzyva, and other journals. She is the recipient of grants from Artist Trust and the Academy of American Poets. She is a faculty member at Richard Hugo House in Seattle, Washington.
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