The Albuquerque Balloon Festival as Seen From a Roller Coaster in Seattle
by Anitra L. Freeman

 

I'm going to go to Albuquerque
rise up into that far wide sky
on the brightest and reddest balloon at the fair

I do not want to stay
where every surge of my blood
will slam me into some slow wall
my flaming mind is frowned on by dumb rain

I want to float where the air has been burned white by the sun
so high that I can laugh and shout and not frighten
even a bird

I do not want to stay
where noises and touches and brushes of soot-laden air
yank words from me that wipe the smiles of friends

I want to look on such a width of earth
carved into gullies and mountains and colored madly
to dwarf every human drama
even those inside me

Next time
I'm going to Albuquerque
 


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