I Feel Alive When I Am... (Poem)

Running as fast as I can
climbing fences
wrapping my hands around the torso of a tree
palms pressed into bumpy bark flesh

Scraping nails on rock
gripping grains of sand and grit
and letting it slip through the cracks of my fingers


Singing as loud as I can
until there’s no room left in my lungs
Laying in the grass and staring at the sky
at dawn
at noon
sunset
midnight

Letting my eyes relax until the stars burst through the fog of my noisy mind
breathing as deep as I can until it aches

Rolling down the windows
and sticking my hand out

Curling my fingers
in the whipping ribbons of air

Mom’s soup
when it’s raining

The savor and spice hanging in the kitchen until I want to drool
the warm rush
the tongue swirling
giddy, ecstatic
as it pours into my mouth and down my throat

When a story or song or person hooks a finger on my heartstring
pulls as hard as it can
and lets go with a jerk
that reverberates my soul
until it shakes the tears out of me