Father's Day

After the painting "Icare" by Benjamin Canas

Daedalus drank some ouzo before he went

but left a little in the bottle

His name means "maker"

— a saw from a shark's backbone

— a labyrinth that unfolds

the way a partridge courts

You tease her with a false start

run dead‑on at a tree and finally

limp into the bridal blind

you gotta get in to get out

Daedalus knows a thing or two about those birds

They're looking for their arms

They fled the path and hid shaking in the brush

He and his son must have killed hundreds of them

Sheaves of their feathers covering the tiles

Primaries and secondaries

The quills could be woven together

but they grafted the coverts with wax into the pores

so the hairs would train around them

It is important that Icarus stay calm

He hobbles to the window

The sky has settled in the sea

To see one's father thrash up into air and out of sight

is to want to be different not wise

First a sip of that stuff though

It struck his father's eyes like a light

but then his wings took hold