David Underdown

This is the opening poem from my forthcoming collection A Sense of North.

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The secret of flying

 

The breakthrough is to stop thinking

about aerodynamics. Concentrate

on the immeasurable pleasures

of floating above roofs

and the open mouths of chimney pots

 

stems of road budding

houses, the rumple of fields

and, beyond, the dark spot of a copse

or how the river feels

up into its tree-lined tributaries.

 

And later, after that first step

                                                      into space

the art of soaring on thermals

of passing over boundaries

a sense of north.