Springing Back
by Melanie Claire Blinn Eulberg

She
races,
hair streaming
madly behind,
cheeks cherry red with
exertion and sheer joy.
Gripping the serpentine string,
she gives a leap, glancing back at
her tenuous connection to flight—
the product of a brown grocery bag,
broken crayons, dowels, scotch tape, and hope
fluttering and crackling in the breeze.
Nearby, her father jogs along,
calling out encouragement:
Pull in…just a little…
Now give it more string.
Look at it go!
I can still   
hear his
cheers.

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