"Skydive" by Sue Johnson

We are not brushed together
by mistake, but choose to be
head down through space
scattered like dice speeding
across the sailable aqua
blue, catching splashes of sun.
There is no time to worry
about insurance co-pays,
the curves of your skin that leap
with a life of their own, no time
to dream of you and me
mussing up the back room bed,
rushing at each other with joy
and relief. There is no time
to think of failure as the ground
charges up and I pluck the small
chute from the strap on my leg
and it unfurls behind like ends
of a chartreuse dress I flip up
when you beg to see the underside
where people don't always go.
I land on forgiving earth, unbuckle
straps, take down the zipper
of the airtight suit, peel plastic
goggles off to see the other
birds. My hair stays unruly,
scratchy eyes steeled by weather
as I stand pitched, relaxed and able
to give you acres of room to reach
inside, feel the skin breathing
in and out, flat & even as a level.

Bio: Jan Wesley's poems have been appeared in Runes, Pool, Rattle, Spillway, Solo, Yalobusha Review, among others, and will appear in an upcoming Sarabande Anthology titled "Air Fare." Poems have been finalists for the Mochilla Review and she received Special Merit awards for the Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Contest in The Comstock Review and was a Ruth Lily nominee at Vermont College where she received her MFA in Creative Writing. She was co-Director of Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center in Venice, California, as well as a co-host for The Hyperpots Reading Series in Santa Monica, California. She teaches at The University of Redlands and at The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandizing.

Contact Jan Wesley at jawesley39@aol.com