the yo-yo - sharon bard

[Larry Robinson]

the yo-yo

her mind rolls back to 1953
the year she wrote the poem
for the McKinley Magpie
she was learning tricks with
the Duncan yo-yo
its string looped loosely
around a thin wooden spindle
slip knot around her middle finger
just enough slack in the string
wooden dowel spinning

she learned to walk the dog
rolling the Duncan yo-yo 
across the floor 
an inch a foot
yanking it back up 
up and down
rolling and yanking

she learned another trick that year
grabbing the string in two places
swinging the Duncan yo-yo between the cradle supports
rocking the baby to sleep
back and forth
wooden dowel spinning
yanking it back up again
up and down


though she tried to control it
the yo-yo had a mind of its own
defying gravity
defying order

she wrote about polarities that year
for her elementary school newsletter
the McKinley Magpie
her poem was about fire
how it was our friend and warmed us
how it was our enemy could kill us

at eight years old she liked extremes
she wrote about water
then about salt
but those poems
of too much and not enough
were mere copycats
the fire poem was selected for
the McKinley Magpie

could she have foreseen how
decades later
the yo-yo would become fire
up with its crimson flames licking the sky
down with blackening trees and chimneys
rolling and rocking
and crackling too
defying gravity
defying order
way too hot for the McKinley Magpie
way out of control

she searches for homes now
wandering up and down streets
after the firestorm
which did not kill her
it didn’t warm her either

maybe if the Magpie
had spread the word about
water and salt
the yo-yo would have become ocean

she rocks forward now
quenched and bobbing
rising and sinking
up and down
without a spindle
or a cradle or 
a slipknot around an anchor

	- sharon bard
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