Try a new system or
different approach.

flying a kite at night
it was dark. it was night.
but i figured out there
on the lakefill there'd be
a breeze off the water

if not i had the can
of spray paint almost full        flying a kite at night
ready to decorate                 is like writing poetry
the broken rocks. Not that
they're barren now. Oh no.        only much, much easier
But i've been here three years
and haven't left my mark
on the concrete. i did
that night, before we flew            flying a kite at night
the kite.                             like writing poetry
                                      is best done at night
quite frankly, they needed
mugwumps, It was about
time. A mugwump and then
"HAIL ERIS" on the next rock.
Blue paint, but it was dark.

But the real reason I
was out there was the kite.
I spun out some line and
sent it up, twice. And twice
it veered right, then veered left,
and swooped down to the ground.

(so much for the award
i got for kite design
from the YMCA
when i was very young)

i handed the controls
To Sip and she eased it          the shape of it, batlike
up and it didn't veer            was hidden by the dark.
it just flew. Up and out.        It looked like a moth.
In the dark, in the sky,
the purple was swallowed         A moth, darting about
by the sky. The blue and         on the end of a string.
green were somewhat there,       Passersby would only
but mostly it was a patch        see two of us running,
of yellow with a hint            laughing, or craning our
of red and orange blurred        necks to peer into the
from the lack of light.          darkness to find the kite.

The string lept from her hands.
On purpose? I wondered
as I sprang up and ran
ran in the dark trying
to catch the unraveling line as it zipped across the field
out of breath
and hoping i don't trip on a gopher hole.
you have to remember
it was dark.

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