Margaret Adams Birth

POETRY

A Rush of Angels’ Wings

Flashes from the chrome on cars
passing by on the street outside —

easy enough to confuse
with a rush of angels’ wings

releasing a little shaft of light
from the heavenly realm —

remind me that where the wheels
meet the asphalt, there’s where

the world, and this life, is grounded,
earthly gravitational pull and mundane mechanics

turning rubber-covered rims round and round
as they transport passengers from point A to point B …

even as cherubim and seraphim and a whole celestial host
invisibly fly by.

Communion Anthem

In the midst of the congregation, my
soprano feels like a balloon floating
high into the air as my lungs expand, releasing
notes heavenward; incense rises
and mingles with our voices:
“look not on our sins,
but on the faith of your Church,
and grant us peace and unity”; unity, Lord —
tenor, alto, baritone, and more soprano surround
me, building a spiritual fortress that buffets us
all — and above it all, the golden tones
that I imagine joining with angels’ and
other believers’, our breath not
ours alone, but infused with
the Spirit to which we all belong.

Margaret Adams Birth has published a wide variety of writing throughout her career: literary, “sweet,” romance, fictional “confession,” and mystery short stories and novellas; short nonfiction; comic books; and, of course, poetry. Most recently, her poems have appeared in Lothlorien Poetry Journal (England), Route 7 Review, and Red Fern Review.

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Image: where the rubber meets the road (2008) by James Theiler, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr.com. Modified by Veronica McDonald.