On My Walks– March 2020
There are days when I do not leave the house,
I delay in my room, endlessly trudging up and down the stairs.
When I ultimately descend,
I feel no relief until my leg stretches out of the door frame,
My foot wiggles its toes, my nose expands its nostrils,
And the sore fatigue in my calf carefully exhales, releasing its stagnant impurities.
The walk is clunky at first,
Confused and foreign,
Before we begin to glide,
My body and I,
My gentle arms stroking and pushing through the leaves and flowers.
The smells overwhelm my nose with a tingling nostalgia:
Elementary school field day,
My small feet imprinting the sand on the smoothed-out field.
Junior high gym class,
Running along the painted track, opening my mouth, welcoming the taste of spring.
High school,
Walking home from the bus stop, my eyes watering from balled-up pollen.
College on the grass,
The dampness of spring staining my dress.
Now,
Twenty-four, on my walk,
My eyelids close momentarily, warmed by the first sun of spring.
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