the wind is against them

beside them, or

sulking

and the technical crew move

peg by peg, the gates

to compensate, while

they wait, in their neoprene

squirrel suits, modeled

on aerodynamics in skin

in born; i watch in wonder

wondering

do they study strategy of

sugar gliders, flying foxes

or lemur kind, who also leap

and glide, unclocked, unranked

but forever first

in memory’s leaderboards, totemic:

called to fly.