1, 2, 3, jump over Watts Towers: (after the painting by Betye Saar Jump on One Foot, One Foot)
- 1, 2, 3, jump over Watts Towers(after the painting by Betye Saar Jump on One Foot, One Foot)
Jump one foot, other swings, skip rope dreamsscales urban street. Feet first, jump 99 feet reachsky summer’s high. Here am I: little jumping girl.Hopscotch beyond steel towers, brown-patched
gardens, barred windows. Concrete stoop’s Grandma’ssoapbox call outs “lunchtime; get on in here; eatingtime.” Gram don’t see, my feet is reaching for the sky
so high, higher than Watts streetlights. Even withskinned knees, knotty braids, rubber band bound,tomato soup, squared saltine lunches. Even withworn-out schoolbooks, I still reach the sky, ‘cause
I am: little jumping girl gazing at the sun, so high. [End Page 141]
Bonita Lee Penn is a creative writing/poetry candidate in Lesley University’s MFA program. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is an advocate for the use of creative writing within our school systems. Her writing has appeared in Blackberry: a magazine and Linden Avenue Journal online.
