Flip & Fly
by Nancy Schatz Alton
I want to kick my legs up into a headstand
maybe a handstand
flip over into a backbend
my friend’s hands catching me
the lawn green
my breathe fast, alive
no years looped in
tunnel-snags
oh, strange corroded pathways,
mysterious brain.
I want to stand on the lawn
& say yes:
I’ll try the head/hand-stand
if you catch my legs
hold while I flip
the air pressing into me
freedom: sweet moment
I slip into
between head/hand-stand
& backbend.
Can we catch it again:
that feeling of flying
the second the fear releases
like the poem says:
in the trees of your eyes
everything new
not touched by too much life
the end too near.
Sure-enough hands
a friend, close
the air
the green grass
the white-bubble fluffy white clouds
blue sky
not too hot
fear freedom flying
the trees of my own eyes
centered and growing.
-3.22.2018
*line of poetry from Marge Piercy poem that rumbles though my brain all the time