Conditional Ascension in JavaScript

if (condition1) {
block of code to be executed if condition1 is true
} else if (condition2) {
block of code to be executed if the condition1 is false and condition2 is true
} else {
block of code to be executed if the condition1 is false and condition2 is false
}

if (I jump) {

my falling hand will reach and find

my other hand,

all of me in one long spoke

} else if (my fingers dove-tail together)

my empty mouth wide open,

between my arms, a whole wind;

} else {

what an awful bird I am;

what bastard of flight holds fast

to so many smooth stones;

}

if (I house you, O hole-in-the-holy-of-holies) {

my hands make a cup for you,

palms up, enough space in there

to fit a few toothed peach pits;

} else if (a third of you in there is dove) {

my asking will whisper

its way through your pneumatic bones

and molt you down to a shiver;

} else {

you don’t answer and the answer

is yes is yes is yes;

}

if (I marry my ear to earth to hear its inner rustlings) {

it only takes two knocks to know

who all is down there;

} else if (I have no avian instinct) {

no internal imprint of stars guides me,

my vision isn’t saying: This is North;

} else if (I wear my one light like an eye) {

the miner’s hand is in me,

my hand holds a cage, praying;

} else {

the bird inside keeps quiet;

}

if (horizon is gold standard of dividing) {

a binary: Its ups, downs

that’s that;

} else if (an elm beneath bears fruit) {

blooms soon-to-be wind-blown

blossoms that sail like thumbnails, down.

} else {

what you see of their scatter is not

the same scatter I see;

}

if (I put me in perfect dark, the cave kind) {

I hold up my open palm

and for all I know I look at nothing;

} else if (I make of me whatever I need) {

a web of love and life lines,

a minotaur, sword-swallower, a whole

flowerless vessel;

} else if (I am all in here) {

no height allows for same thinglessness

} else {

even looking down is only looking;

}

---

Mike Oliphant received his MFA at Western Washington University, and is Consulting Editor of the Bellingham Review. A portion of his collection Medium Warp was the recipient of the 2018 Gas Station Prize. He was a 2017 Pushcart Nominee and his short fiction and poetry are either forthcoming or have appeared in Isthmus, Psaltery & Lyre, IDK Magazine, Shooter Literary Magazine, NANO Fiction, and elsewhere.