The expansive, affirming youth of her,

scuffed red skates binding feet just

enough to guarantee freedom,

wink of waist meeting charcoal and rivets,

hair sharply black and gleaming,

sunglasses muting/defining the world

and preserving her ultraviolet life.

The river’s current is a siren, that sun-sear a beacon.

Though air may be poison, so is barricaded by mask.

But she is absconding from this reality

and into her own–a bandit of speed,

knee pads two antidotes to grave errors,

her heart happier as an opening fist,

legs muscling toward mountains,

mind full of bluest horizon.

She is braving the day with

full throttle body and soul, unlike

the slow and wavering, not-so-young

others who wave as she faces the wind,

rushes into no time, gives a laugh, chin up.