poetry on the bus

A team of wonderful artists headed by my good friend Molly and joined by our beloved local poet, Wendy McVicker (also a friend in the making and one of the girls' teachers) succeeded this week in completing a project long in the works: poetry wrapping around and throughout one of our small town's main buses.  Ani and I joined them to celebrate the unveiling of the bus with a trip through town, and a poetry reading in motion.  The bus was packed and spirits were high! It is such a treat to see this bus coming down the street.

We rode after everyone but Wendy got off. Ani is mesmerized...

In Summer 

we rolled down
the fresh–mown hills
into pools of dusk.
One by one, up
and down the street,
the small square houses
lit up, like ships
at sea, rocking
on the tide of night.
We swam from yard
to yard, our bodies
flickered in the spaces
between hedges, slipped
as easily as shadows
down gravel driveways.
Our eyes grew large
and luminously deep.
We knew the sound
of each one’s footsteps, the taste
of each one’s breath.
The night air
ran down our skin, smeared
with green.
We bit off blades of grass
and tongued them, sharp
whistles arcing
across the sky.
When our mothers
called us in, their voices
were like a net
cast over the night
catching us in its folds
pulling us out of the darkness—
and we came
reluctant, blinking,
opening and closing our mouths
without a sound

by Wendy McVicker