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      October 12, 2011Suzume ShiSwing

      Simply by pumping
      my thin arms & legs
      I could tip the world up
      on its lip
      like a penny

       

       

      & rock it

       

       

      back down
      shift the wind so my bangs blew
      back. stopped.
      washed back
      over my eyes.

       

       

      stopped.

       

       

      & my house & the trees
      & my father & mother
      & the sun in the sky
      would jump up
      & down

       

       

      at my whim

       

       

      as I leaned
      back & pointed my toes so
      my skirt would
      bloom wide
      as a daylily’s red

       

       

      mouth

       

       

      then shut like night
      & the neighborhood
      boys would
      cry out,
      “I see France!”

      from #26 - Winter 2006

      Suzume Shi

      “My father was so far away. When he wasn’t working, he took college classes. One was in modern poetry. So, at ten, I began writing poems, hoping to catch his eye. At 54, I am still writing.”