Naomi


As I watch
In the quiet cold arena
a little girl
glides to center ice
a little later on in the performance
I bend down and look up
i see a spinning blur in an impossible position.
the next time I leave
to get a coke
and then come back in
she is three feet in the air
she lands on one foot
skating backwards
my jaw drops in awe
and i notice
as the music slows
that it's tune
little bitty pretty one
only half describes her
she skates with unusual grace
and finesse
for her age
and as she rockets into the air
from a fast backward movement
and sets down again like an airy bird
i realize that she is not a girl
she is thirteen
almost fourteen
but already a woman