The Boy Who Thought He Could

Mother licked and slicked his hair back,
then in a voice that dripped sugar
sent him out to pick blackberries,
to get him out from under her feet.

He skirted the cliff, his arms flapped
like a seagull, head in the clouds.
He screeched, that noise that needled her,
then caught the wind and launched

himself, and for a moment soared
between the heavens and the deep blue sea.