Suite for a Blue Afternoon

David Wright I (Theme) We went to the park and became shadows. It was a blue afternoon. We went to the park and became long, spindly shadows. It was a long, blue afternoon. II (Landing Pattern) A road runs beside the playground’s edge. Above the swing sets, jets angle and whine against the sky’s grain. On the swing sets, along yellow lined asphalt, our daughter and her friends swing hard, swing high, their legs uneven and ragged in triplets against the improvised air. III (March Tempo) Pines filter and fine tune the wind. Black oaks line up in pairs: shadow and tree, shadow and tree. A cardinal-red kite tail traps itself in cross winds, in branches, and flips against the too blue sky, snaps like a finger and thumb, a finger and thumb, snaps like a banner that might never come down. IV (Lying/Laying Down) I lie down in my tracks in the unmuted sun. You lay down too. The grass still feels damp. Light on a fence turns the chain link diamonds blue. Arranged on the ground like this, like shadow and tree, I want to ask you: Wouldn’t a babysitter be nice? Baby, wouldn’t we like to stay right like this? But my, oh my, we lie and listen to the children swing, the kite snap, those high planes sing, and the cars slow down on this sweet, long, blue-spring afternoon.