A New Year of Poems

Spring!

My hair is whipping in the wind

as I ride the swing

back and forth

to and fro

creak and crack

and I realize that at last

 

those endless winter days

of sitting inside

with hot cocoa and cookies

are over.

 

My bare arms thrive

in the sun and wind,

hair tying in knots behind me,

glad to be free of the confining hat

I live under all winter.

 

The trees,

however, are

not fooled by this mask

for they keep their leaves hidden

knowing

what I try to keep in the dark folds

of my mind.

But, the flowers agree with me

and have just begun

to blossom.

 

Breaking the moment,

I leap

up

up

up

down

down

down

down

and my feet THUNK on the ground.

 

I stand, looking

at my burning hands and realize

after all this time, they

are not used to

the foreign chains of the swing set.