Tonight's Poet Corner: Bounce
Bounce by Belinda Roddie Your fingers coil up like springs; they contract, then release. They get caught in the collar of my sweater, press down hard on the nape of my neck. I expect the texture and temperature of steel. Instead, the warmth is worthwhile. We bounce together. Hands, lips, knees, every soft part of us that flips the bird to gravity: We bounce together. Jostling for dominance on a personal trampoline, we grapple and shape our bodies like basketballs, ready to be dribbled and dunked and defying physics. We bounce together. Our frames are released from tired mattresses and boards. We break slats with bruised knuckles and pretend that the pain is less than the skinned knees once we make contact with gravel. This is how we stay alive. We jive, dance on the roundest parts of our feet, kiss the air so that our mouths form a perfect U - just a semi-circle, but close enough to leave a shadow on Earth's circumference. Its girth gives us plenty to l