Skipping

September 2021

Skipping

Walk ing my hear t ( good boy!) af ter lunch, suddenly my bored step hitches, st utters, propels me fir mly up and for ward, and look,

I’m sk ipping, I’m sk ipping, I’m sk ipping like I haven’t in over half a cent ur y, one foot then the other bouncing lightly on its ball,

spr inging my dull ear thbound body along like a rock across water, lightly touching down, like a canter ing horse on the verge of a gallop,

a syncopated gait that swings my ar ms out for balance like the girls’ when I was a k id but so what, I let hands and hips sashay,

lost my partner, what’ll I do, skip to my L ou, my darling hear t leaping in my lif ted chest as I dance on down the sidewalk, double-time.

— Michael McFee