Christopher Stephen Soden, Icarus

My papa, Daedalus, the first architect, 

vowed I’d thrive, inviting me to follow 

at his heel. Intoxicated by the lullaby 

of his rasp and hammer, echoing 

through my slumber, I’d stand beside him 

while he scanned each design, trying 

to make certain his mechanisms 

would last. He’d never filter discourse, 

but spoke to me as an adult. Clear 

and direct. His totem was the crow. Cunning 

and devious. Unable to resist the glint 

of the forbidden. Who thought he’d venture 

the wings I imagined? Laboring months, 

convinced he’d prevail. He’d daub each feather, 

plundered from falcons, with tallow.  When we 

found the perfect mountain, he was 

meticulous, timing for the strongest updrafts. 

Perhaps if I’d ever felt actual agony. 

Perhaps if I’d enlisted to obey 

the centurion’s behest. The cadence 

of warriors gleaming, in buffed bronze. 

Perhaps if I’d stumbled, I might have 

ignored the surge, the revelation 

of velocity. I would have hesitated 

to ascend to a destiny so sadly fulfilled. 

Who could have known the grace 

of swimming infinite blue, crystalline 

sky, was a game of chance? My father 

will always be remembered as the genius 

and I, the fool.

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Christopher Stephen Soden received his MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) in January 2005 from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He has written film and theatre critique for The Fort Worth Ally, EdgeDallas, John Garcia’s The Column, Examiner.com and sharpcritic.com. He has been a dedicated and energetic contributor to the literary community of Dallas, and his poetry has appeared in numerous venues including: The Cortland Review, Rattle, G & L Review, The Texas Observer, Borderlands, Assaracus, and Ganymede Poets. Short plays of his (including : Water, Radio Flyer, Every Day is Christmas. In Heaven. and Queer Anarchy have been staged at Bishop Arts Theatre Center, The MAC and Nouveau 47. Christopher also teaches and lectures on craft, theory, genre and explication. His poetry and critique collections: Closer and Delicate Tiger. Ferocious Snowflake. are available through Amazon.