Taking Flight

You can fly, Mary! by Judith Clay

Taking Flight

a boing in the tune of a yellow balloon,
rang in the keys –
wind chimed a-b-c-d-e-f-g
up and down the piano;
it played in my head,
and behind my back at any given moment of my life –
no one else saw my walking piano;
or the owl that lived on my head, name Herbert

there were times when Herbert, my owl
he told me i could fly,
i declared, I think not.
so be it –
the moons were my world,
and gravity my folly

i was not about to give in to foolish imaginations,
but my B-b-b balloon sang to me in the key E
and we danced into a sphere-like quandary;
it flew from the top of bubble-filled sundries –

i think that was when;
the now that took place,
as my piano pounded on the black keys,
and my balloon was tired of my habit;
of analyzing

Herbert poofed out exasperation from his lungs,
my melancholy meanderings wrapped my scarf around my neck –
i was convinced

it was time to fly off the edge of the earth
to escape the grips of faulty falsettos
reclaiming the finely tuned keys
that live among my own kind –

so now, (the when, way back then)
you’ll find me boinging on moons
flapping my wings with my toes tightly around my piano
and my hand clinging to my yellow B-b-b balloon;
Herbert?
he is gingerly on my head professing, I told you so
every now and again,
he tries to tell me that my B-b-b balloon is a pear
Herbert?
he is so foolish

~~~~~

I feel quite whimsical and a little silly this evening. Claudia gave us inspiration through the art of Judith Clay at dVerse. (If you click on the image you can see her wonderful art.) It is right up my ally, I love the way the art makes me feel a little goth dark-like and happy whimsy at the same time.

However, I found this to be quite a challenge because I had a hard time picking an image and gathering my words cohesively. I decided to just let the whimsy flow and go with whatever came out. It was quite enjoyable and kind of what I needed after sharing some intense things about my life the last three days.

So there you have it ~ Taking Flight. 🙂 Be sure to go read all the other poems inspired by her art!

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