Debbie Theiss
I Once Wished For Wings

As gnarled hands clasp the crook and hook handle,
sorrow folds her body. She sees headstones
leaning, names worn thin with time. Narrow nose
scarred with fault lines from a horrific wreck,
the decision to survive her son’s death.
Crisscrossed etchings above her brow. Husband’s
betrayal. Forgiveness, caregiver.
But beneath her cloak of age, a little girl

endures—who raced to the creek, climbed, balanced
on two outstretched oak limbs. Plucked decaying
leaves and not yet blooming flowers to crown
her hair. Feather tufts blanketing thrasher’s
nest fanned loose by wind. She giggled, gathered
fuzzy down, closed her eyes, and wished for wings.

Debbie Theiss (Lee’s Summit, MO) grew up in in the Midwest and finds inspiration for her poetry in the unfolding art of daily life and nature. Her debut poetry collection, a chapbook entitled Perfectly Im- perfect was published in July 2021 by Kelsay Books. In addition, she has poems published in I-70 Review, Skinny Journal, Kansas Time and Place, Interpretations IV & V, Helen Literary Journal, River & South Review, Postcard Poems and Prose, Star 82 Review, Weaving the Terrain from Dos Gatos Press, and others.