Lane Falcon

Lane Falcon’s poems have been published in American Poetry Journal, The Carolina Quarterly, Cream City Review, Harbor Review, The Healing Muse, The Journal, Medmic, New York Quarterly, Poet Lore, Rhino, Rust & Moth, Sheila-Na-Gig, Spoon River Poetry Review, Swwim Everyday, Tar River Poetry, and more. Her manuscript, Deep, Blue Odds, was a finalist for the Black Lawrence Press Hudson Prize, and a semi-finalist for the 2022 Tupelo Press Berkshire Prize.

Voice

Cincinnati again on the horizon.
In another month,

the third surgery with
the esteemed wizard of airway

dynamics: the propulsion,
the sculpting of vocal wings—

the same friction that creates
lift. One more month, and me,

my son, and a caravan
of suitcases will embark on

the ninth leg of this journey,
trailing HME’s he coughs

off his trach in the path
of strangers who arrive before us

Do you need this?
What they really want to know,

what we all want to know,
is Why? One more month,

and we’ll check in at the same
hotel we always do,

and while we wait in the lobby
for the Medicaid authorization

to click, he’ll act more alive
than ever, as if

performing for all
the recalibrating minds

of strangers. One more month.
Still, I wait for a sign:

this time his airway is ready,
for faith to rise

from the asphalt
of my heart.