By Cassie Burkhardt

Featured Art by Ashura Lewis

Every Wednesday I unzip motherhood,
leave it balled up in the minivan and grab hold

of an aerial hoop suspended from the ceiling,
hoist and straddle upside-down,

mount the moon and swing. I’m new
at the circus and it feels like hopping

a train inside myself, metal hoop
in the void, fantasies playing out—

Pretzel Roll, Amazon Swing, Gazelle,
Guillotine. So often,

I cannot express the loneliness
of my days, life of a grocery store

tumbled through, skin losing its elasticity,
laundry basket of socks and more socks.

But when Maria says, “Ok, now,
straddle-back Wild Child into Wineglass,”

I am more than mother—a concept now:
Dragonfly, Bird’s Nest, Mermaid Roll-up,

Madame X, Back Balance—
a spine that remembered it’s a rainbow.

---