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.
Thin Air 