Swing

Used to go to playparks
On a grey day
Skip through the barley-sugar gate
Headlong into bright adventure.
Pirate, mermaid, jungle explorer, even a grown-up-
"I can be anyone I want to be...."
The guise of astronaut
Requires a special prop.
The dark tarmac rubbery
Hot under bare soles,
I hurry to the swing.

A gentle, rhythmical sway,
Fingers of air run through my hair,
Caress my skin, whisper secrets to the trees.
The curve of boisterous resistance at the back of my knees,
Oddly stiff, buffeting.
Little legs dangle puppet-like above the bouncing ground.
Concentrate, build up speed,
The rewarding strain, stretching, speeding-
Close your eyes, open, tilt your head back,
Vertiginous arc. Forget
Which way up you are
As the merciless earth speeds towards your head.
The high, bird-like voices fade
As I leave the earth behind.
The soaring blue spinning
Euphoria- shriek a televised message:
"Houston, she's going great guns!"

And here in my pool, my sky, my sea,
I am forever free....

Hijack a playpark
On a grey day.
The barley-sugar gate-
Embellished scrawls. It creaks its age.
"I know who I am, and quite frankly it bores me."
Twisting the chains, heels dragging.
My companion shares her story of awkward first love,
Romance always teetering, tottering
On the brink, never quite existing.
"I love you, but can never say so..."
The guise of teenage angst needs no props.
Tilt my head, give my thoughts to the breeze,
Find I'm unconsciously rocking. Wordless-
Bright-eyed initiation of competition!

Who will skim the clouds first,
Tear the seams with their toes
So that the cold wet load comes loose?
Settle into age-old, familiar rhythm-
Push-and-fall, push-and-fall.
I can hear her laughing; soar towards her so she shrieks,
Celestial paths intersecting.

We don't leave Earth, don't even leave Cardiff,
But the fresh wind invigorates, pins worries
Way up high-
Robs them of weight
Lessens our burdens.

Land, feeling dizzy, slightly sick.
Laugh. "Can't handle the rides like I used to."
And somewhere, somehow, my childish self hears,
Sticks out her tongue, her fat plaits swinging,
And says, "Then I NEVER want to grow up."