Day 2 of National Poetry Writing Month
I started out frozen, everything but the core waiting to thaw. You can see a lot happening around you in the world when folks can’t see you, forget about you, cuz you’re stuck there in that reverse ice sculpture waiting for the sun to shine down or the temps to go up: you can see friends laughing as they pass by, their heads tossed back, their feet in sync, you can see a man wiping a tear away -- he didn’t think anyone would see. You see a hawk dive bomb a turtledove at feeder miss and dive again, snatching the blood red cardinal instead. I started out frozen, wishing to move but unwilling to take a step in any direction. When it hurts you stay so still holding the seams together, last straining threads keeping the mess in place. When you are frozen, you forget anyone else exists. You forget love, you forget how to ask for things, how to form a sentence. If you stay still enough you won’t have to be, maybe. You’ll lose your shadow, brain slowing till, finally, you can sleep. I started out frozen but sun comes around eventually -- to touch the knee, kiss the head, loosen the tender places. Buds break through, throwing their confetti petals on the wind. I stretch my legs, thrust myself upward into the blue sky. Turning to go I spy a smudge of sorry yellow, lonesome cardinal on her branch, still singing some kind of song.
PROMPT 3: Begin with “I started out”