The first weekend in June, two years ago—My niece and her band of friends float from party to party. Once the ceremonies and celebrations are over, I discover in my Facebook news feed a picture that says it all: a long line of them captured in mid-leap, mortarboards flung into the stratosphere.
downy puffs
of cottonwood seed
in flight
a flock of new graduates
looking for somewhere to land
—GUSTS, No. 21, Spring/Summer 2015
I'm glad I was able to fly to Illinois to attend the festivities. Everywhere I looked, it seemed, there were indeed fluffy cottonwood seeds.
I love the downy puffs juxtaposed against a Graduation Ceremony - something so youthful and tender and dear about that image ... "looking for somewhere to land" - lump-in-throat insightful and poignant in the fragility of that fickle breeze.
ReplyDeleteYes, a wonderful juxtaposition of images!
ReplyDeletethanks for the wonderful comments, wendy and jenny!
ReplyDeletethanks also for continuing to read my poems here. :)