When we try to pretend the moon moves
across our faces, we get a disco ball. Lightning
bolts and star-printed carpets glow fluorescent
yellow and purple under black lights. When
we get hungry and our hairlines wet with a song
of sweat, we pool crumpled bills from our pockets
and split a hot slice and a medium RC cola.
If you learn to skate backward, here, for a few hours,
you could be royalty. If someone asked you to skate
during Couples Skate, you were Empress Legionnaire.
If you could fold into a Romeo Slide, Cannonball,
or Shoot-the-Moon, you might as well be named
Supreme Leader Admiral of the Fleet. All you need
is practice. When we play at night, our eyes and body
don’t ever forget. Our bodies remember the glide,
just like a river remembers each meander.
This is drawn from “Night Owl.”
