(On U.S. 1 Highway, at Harrison Street Bridge)
between my right wheel
and this metal barricade
something is moving
as officious as a nun
the tall determined wraith
bustles between car and rail
— something very wrong
as, overhead, her fellows
streak grey sky
she holds her left wing high
arced backwards
dark pinions all askew
white tufts strewing out behind
as she flees on foot
every few moments, she stops
poking her inky neck
between the cold sharp edges
of this ruthless rail
beyond which float
her unreachable, uninjured kin
I would stop rush-hour traffic
swoop my winged sister
into imperfect embrace
carry her to some safety
in the lake
Edelmann serves as arts & education associate at D&R Greenway Land Trust. The first member of the community accepted into Princeton University’s Creative Writing program, she studied with Ted Weiss, Galway Kinnell, and Stanley Plumly. She has written on nature, travel, and history for U.S. 1 and the Packet Publications. She is Co-founder of Cool Women Poets.
