Nancy Sobanik

Nancy Sobanik is a registered nurse who writes poetry with empathy for life’s challenges, and to create meaningful connections for the reader. Her poetry has been published in Sparks of Calliope, March 17th, 2023 and Triggerfish Critical Review Issue # 29, Jan. 2023 and can be found on poetcollectives.org. She resides in Maine, USA.

Flying Kites at the Cape

We let the string spool out,
spin and sprint to do our part,
watch teasing fingers
sweep the kite aloft,

shriek for a glorious moment
before the kite dives sharply
to bite the sand, proving that
hands cannot control the wind.

I hold the snapshot, culled
from a dusty shoebox
dragged from under the bed.
My father is laughing,

his shoulders and hands
hang loose at his sides
behind him the dunes of the Cape rise,
domes to the vault of blue above.

It was a rare moment, before
the angry beetled eyes of evening,
before words that swarmed like wasps,
the soured breath of a six pack.

So quickly we grow,
our halcyon days peered at
through faded photos,
with hands that can hold time.

Like Schrodinger’s cat we are both
child and old, happy or angry,
and the kite is remembered
as kissing the blue or crashed.

It all depends which lid
we choose to take off the box.