by Max Conley

Photography by Emily Yue

Modeling by Stephan Snyder

For my mother; Icarus and phoenix.

I who can bare the ravaged landscape.

I, being twisted together from

string and sound and conceived

into the transient tones of a lyre’s

whispered noises.

You who composed me with

grace and lonely fragility.

So, I was born to weather

the discordant hums of the universe.

The frozen melody

of the earth melted through my fingers

as the soft, wispy wires

of my flesh were

tempered and steeled in the cold

dark rivers.

So, I can stir the ashes

and ignite our incendiary souls,

and we’ll traverse the silent Lethe.

As the world conforms to turning glances,

let what must soon pass

be cocooned by eternity.

So, I will light my shadow

and watch my potential face

take form in the ocean,

as a hummingbird takes flight with

the sun and carries my ascension

upon its wings.