PAULA EISENSTEIN

It’s 1928. After a lengthy delay, Amelia Earhart 
is finally en route to Newfoundland. From there, 
at great risk, she will become the first woman 
to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, and an immediate celebrity.

Leaving Boston

The spring lock of the cabin door breaks.
The door hangs open like a mouth.

Anchored to a gasoline can I hold it shut.
I slip toward it.

Slim with me now. Both falling out. Almost.
We cling like the satin moths

that swarm around the willow trees at dusk
in June July and August

like snowflakes. 
Leucoma salicis – lately introduced to the States.

In certain moments one questions
whether they belong. They oscillate.

A string through a leather thong on the door
knotted to a brace shuts it.