I could do that

A Facebook friend (meaning someone I have only exchanged about twenty words with in real life) is holding a writing workshop on Facebook. The idea is to write a novena of poems in response to a prompt. This particular cycle is asking us to write an ekphrastic poem in response to a work of art. The first poem is to be in response to this photo:

This is what I wrote:

I bet I could do that.

Let my hands be feet and feel pavement,

Lift my feet in the air to enjoy the view,

Flash my belly to the sun and wind,

And look at the world upside down.

But I can’t do that.

My hands are twisted by the weight of a gun,

My heavy-booted feet lift only to march,

My belly is camouflaged, guarded by grenades.

I’m armed in a world turned upside down.

It’s been too long since I’ve had that view.

The view kids get by swinging as hard as they can

And throwing their heads back, or

From hanging from the jungle gym,

And outlasting their friends.

And how will he remember me, my sneakered friend?

Will I be the upside-down soldier

Marching through his young dreams

Or the right-side down soldier

Causing the screams?