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Text: Poem by Jennifer Armstrong
I am alone in the backyard on the red
wooden swing.
It is early evening
the shadows have just begun to reach
into the light
and swallow it up bit by bit.
It is early Autumn,
the warm twilight air has a bite in it,
a warning of weather to come.
I’m swinging high and fast,
sweeping out over the ground,
rushing through the swirling currents of air,
gleeful when I rise above
the tangle of overgrown bushes along the fence line that grab at my feet
and whisper hoarsely in the breeze.
The wind whips my hair about.
My legs are pumping hard,
just a little harder
a little faster, a little higher
and I will launch myself on the wind
and fly into the arms of night.
My mother is singing
as she does the supper dishes.
I can see her clearly
as though there were no wall between us. Soap bubbles and floating notes
circle round her like flickering fireflies. She stands in a shimmering pool of light a bright tether to my wild, windy dance. My swinging slows
to the slow-motion swing of a trapeze artist and I ready myself to
fall into the safety net
of my mother’s song.
1999, from The Generosity of Hope: 20 Poems of Possibility.
Self Published. Reprinted with permission.
PERFORMANCE SUGGESTIONS: “Challenging Group”
Safety Net 3:51 (pleasant experiences)
Flattened Penny 2:29 (troubled childhood, could use aria version as well)
Bingo 2:41. (humor and flirtation during a game)
