Run!
Fly!


A dollar deal
fun for all ages
cartoon wood owl
fights flight,
forsakes ascension,
lingers shallow sky
like a feral flag.

Black disc eyes
startle,
scorn,
rattle plastic sockets.

Faster!
Higher!

Painted plumage surges
fast ripples that
shiver synthetic feathers
and crinkle wind.


Orange streamers whip,
kink,
furl
and twist like crooked ribbons


Out of breath!
Out of shape!

Oiled families point
and laugh,
my stepdaughter blushes,

I gallop like a madman
barefoot,
splash over seashells
and crab holes,

dragging a stubborn symbol
of childhood,
I cannot wrangle
or tame.

The leash has snapped!
My body fails!

Broken nylon falls
like tangled web,
frail,
flimsy ,
my handful of slack
spills like silk
when i trip in sea ****
and accept this refusal
knowing we share
the same fates,

crashing into white sand
bruised, tired,
a folly for sunny strangers.