(Valerie)
I climbed the crab apple tree
in Gran Gran's back yard,
without skinning my legs
or scraping them across the bark
my cousins watched
my agility to reach
the highest branches
without getting scared
and when I reached
thin branches, I jumped
from one limb to the other
with no hands to prove
I wasn't afraid as Ron
and Esther and Kevin
looked on before they joined me
(they wanted to make sure hands' free tree climbing was possible)
Ron
taught all the other McKinneys
and Scotts and Bridgemans
how to walk the rails
and jump off trestles just before
the train turned the bend
he was the thrill seeker, the rest of us
enamored by his fearlessness,
how crazy it was to risk
life and limb on the highest
section of the tracks near
Mr. Gross's farm and how
landing in a sea of cotton looks
soft, but it's brutal the way the
bolls prick open skin and we
left our DNA, red, on white rows
my little girl/grown-ass woman
try to remember grasp of wood
tremble of rails underneath
nimble feet and strong hands
the decision to climb or jump
fearless
© Valerie Bridgeman
January 24, 2013
(edited for first person (Valerie) on January 27, 2013)
This is the best! This is how I see you, leaping with no hands!
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