I’m a big guy.
Playground swings weren’t made for people like me.
The hard plastic bites into my side,
I’m always sure the chain is moments away from snapping,
and equally sure I look utterly absurd.
But it’s very liberating to swing as an adult.
You’re breaking society’s conventions,
even if there’s no posted rule about it,
and there’s something else
– about being in between heaven and earth,
flying through the air, under your own power,
and the higher you get, the more dangerous it is
but you don’t care, you just keep pumping your legs
until you’re no longer fully in this world,
or yourself.
I do it with my eyes closed, and then open them
when I feel I can’t get much higher.
Part of me wants to leap then,
but then I remember doing that as a kid
and cracking my noggin open like an Orphic egg.
Come to think of it, there are a disturbing number of head wounds in my history.
That probably explains a lot …
