Danny Poem by Don Taco

 Picture a young woman on one of those big-city skyscraper balcony railings, leaning over it and gazing up at the sky, as if to put every last inch between her and the city she's thrown her dreams at.

Her name is Danny.

danny turns her cheek into the wind

and she closes her eyes and imagines she's a bird

gliding     and riding the warm soothing currents of the air

high enough above the streets she now lives in

that the buildings are just place markers

and the people below her scurry about

like harmless friendly insects

interesting, interested, and alive

danny turns her dreams into the wind

and she closes her eyes and tries to remember her home

her mother     and the others that she thought she could leave behind her

to travel to this city that she now hides from

with her family distant memories

while the people there with her scurry about

and jostle and scowl and ignore

distasteful, distrustful, and aloof

and like the birds she borrows from the freedom of the wind

and like the birds she soars above the city that she now calls home

trying to remember that this isn't how it's always been

trying to discover once again the place that dreams come from

and calls back to the birds that call to her

and remembers better days that never were

danny turns her steps into the wind

and she sighs and whispers how did it come to this

regretting     and forgetting the dreams that now seem so far away

weeping for the innocence that led her to come

here to this sad earthbound place

where the people around her scurry about

like rats with their teeth sharpened

surrounded, surrendered, and alone

and like the birds she borrows from the freedom of the wind

and like the birds she soars above the city that she now calls home

trying to remember that this isn't how it's always been

trying to discover once again the place that dreams come from

and calls back to the birds that call to her

and remembers better days that never were