Bonus 1: Juggling Feathers

Hi to readers of Cielo old and new! As promised, while I work on bigger things, once every week or so I’m going to write a new story. For the fun of it, for a love of imagination. I hope you enjoy…

Juggling Feathers
by
Matt Zurbo

If I could I’d juggle ideas.
Under a tree, where nobody sees or hears.

   *

If I could I’d juggle dreams.

Leave them up there,
hanging on the breeze.
Let them fall, and burst open,

scuttling, boasting, inspiring –
imagination everywhere!

Drifting over the ocean.

   *

If I could I’d juggle an octopus, one tentacle after another,

while its free limbs rolled out, embracing,
nudging,
protecting,

providing cover.

   *

If I could I’d juggle my life,
mix it,
put everything up there.

All my victories and strife,

my fears, all my cares.

   *

Imagine that!
The good,

the bad,

the doubts,

the glad.

   *

And when my hand slipped,
or timing was off,
you could watch it all tumble,

landing hard,

landing soft.

   *

I’d gather the pieces, and go again,
scruffed-up, free,

wonderfully insane.

   *

If I could I’d let a bunyip
juggle you and I,
laughing, free,

high in the sky.

   *

Then, if it could, juggle a dragon
and mermaid, too.
All these wonderful, strange creatures,
old mythology and new.

Each one waving;
“How-do-you-do!”

   *

If I could I’d juggle feathers,
and maybe 1,000 petals,

do it with whispers,

and steam from old kettles.

   *

If I could, I’d juggle more and more.
Bats, fruit,
a flute, a door,

ants, pants, an old bowling ball,
juggle them all,

on a slippery floor.

   *

Then, sweat pouring, heart racing,
juggle more,

and more and more…

   *

If I could, I’d stand on one hand,
just like that,
in front of
a juggling band.

   *

Then, with a small “Hup!”,
I’d push up,
and land on the other.

Left, right, left, right,
causing confusion,
befuddlement,

all sorts of bother.

   *

“The kid’s lost the plot,”
they would surely say.

“Best call a shrink,
to take him away.”

   *

Until you went
and stood upside down, too,
and saw I was juggling
the world

just for you.

   *

There’s something about juggling,
that makes one feel
fine and free,

exactly how nature
intends us to be.

   *

If I could, I’d put one arm around your waist,
as you would me,

and together, with our free hands,
we’d juggle all we could see.

The End