With Headset on Winter
(One for the Birds)
February 4, 1996
by Reggie Morrisey
The cello swells.
High tide on Smacks Bayou.
Pelicans "carpe diem."
I dance in place.
Appearing to sit
serene,
within I twirl,
I leap with grace.
Dove on a dock.
Nearly fifty...
that a shock.
Paul Winter's music soars.
Gulls in high time glide.
A flock of geese
takes lettered form
and low key ducks
tip wings upon the water.
From afar I am a statue
in the sax and cello's wake.
But I dance a jig to life.
Flight does not elude me.
Within, my hair twirls round and
ruffles of a skirt will never cease.
My heart beats
like the hummingbird.
The bored raven crows.
The egret has my number.
One with them,
I choose motion
over slumber.
Training to be
"an older" woman.
My foot taps.
I am still dancing.
Smacks Bayou, painting by Vincent Mancuso