Poem

As a child, Madeline dropped her feet
in the swimming pool and sent waves
in two directions, bent herself
at every joint and became a paper boat.
Diving in as the waves returned
to each other, she was lifted
on a sudden geyser
rendered lost in atmosphere.

And now she spends her afternoons
on rooftops, where the cruel demands
of the world that raised her
are kept down, scurrying
like ants beneath a cinder block.