2i don't know what it was
about the tire swing.
this one being
yellow, beaten,
withering plastic-
scuff marks to show
from its loving passengers.
i don't know how we
stuffed ourselves in,
the well used tire
surely groaning
under the extra stress
of three who just wanted
to feel like children
again.
and then i was spinning,
spinning, spinning,
thoughts shooting
out of my head
careening away
like they were driven
by natural forces
like they were
tangible objects
that could be subject to
centrifugal force
like they needed to fly away
in order to make it back
in a way that made sense
to me.
and i was desperately
holding on to the chain
like if i let go
i would fly off
that heart-stopping
pure thrill
adrenaline pumping moment
before crashing back down
to reality.
then i switched
and held with my arms
the chain biting at
my elbows,
but the hurt not really
transferring to
my mind,
instead whirling out
the ends of
my hair,
streaming out in circles
and absorbed into trees.
when i close my eyes
there's a split second
of nothing -
then,
as if my brain is
making up for the pause
it streams into overdrive
massively confused
about the loss of its
sense
so that my body
is not only spinning,
my mind is too,
a whirlwind of nothing
that magically
makes up something.
they open
and the world comes back
in a rush,
spinning dazzlingly
before my eyes,
blurring
just like my thoughts,
and the world is
parallel
to me.
i don't even take in
colour anymore
i look at it but it doesn't
register,
and i know i'm
reaching into the
child inside
when everything was
black and white
and it was so
simple -
one or the other,
but the mind still
spinning all the way.
and then we jerked
and lurched
and stopped
but our mind didn't
until our eyes
stopped spinning
so slowly the
colour
came rushing back,
the simple life
vanished -
we are wiser
now
i think,
because colour
helps us to
see.