Vine Tree

Trees. Firmly rooted in the earth

Branches spreading in the sky

The sensation of bark underneath your fingertips

Nestled between your nail bed and nails

The pull from your arms, the push from your legs

How secure the holdings, from the tree above your gaze

I pull myself up

And swing to kick my leg high

Wrap my leg around, and slide my leg onto one side

Of the branch to get myself rooted

For the climb to the top

Because the views above are what

I’m working so carefully to soak and capture in

Some I climb with vines

Others with the bark

And large trees with trunks so wide

I run and spring off from the side

To propel me up into the air, and grab that first branch

And dangle underneath

Before I have the chance

To quickly get my other arm up

To hold fast my positional hold

And figure out what to do with my legs

To pull them from below

It’s instinctual, climbing

Getting my body into the air from below

Almost like I’ve been here before, different tree, but same steps and patterns to complete

I don’t know where I’m going except

Up higher than the last

Time, for now I’m learning how to move better

Each tree, trial, and climb

I’ve never thought about it, except to see the sky

And here I am again, looking at each tree, each trial, each rise