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Best to swing with Dad behind you,
to pull back the chains you hold tight,
release you to sway straight and true.
Head back, you trace contrails through
branches, contoured with dusky light.
Best to swing with Dad behind you,
tongue out and upside down to you,
all tease and tickle, he won’t quite
release you to sway straight and true.
Your whirlybird legs corkscrew,
skim spring earth, strike wooden uprights.
Best to swing with Dad behind you,
to serve as your swing set ground crew.
Hold you 'til launch, gather some height,
release you to sway straight and true.
His nearness gives freedom to flight.
At your call, his hands would unite.
Best to swing with Dad behind you.
Release you, to sway straight and true.
© by Matthew Miller.
Used with the author’s permission.
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Matthew Miller teaches social studies, swings tennis rackets, and writes poetry - all hoping to create a home. He pretends his classroom is a living room, filling it with as many garage-sale chairs as he can afford. Matthew lives beside a dilapidating apple orchard in Goshen, Indiana and tries to shape the dead trees into playhouses for his four boys. He vacillates between wanting to poison and wanting to feed the groundhogs, rabbits, and cardinals that try to make their homes in his garden; for now, they’ve all chosen peace. Learn more about Matthew here.
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MatthewMiller:
Thanks all!
Posted 11/27/2021 09:53 AM
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Wilda Morris:
First time I've seen "contrails" in a villanelle! Cool!
Posted 06/21/2021 12:23 PM
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Judy:
Sweet villanelle with a great message, Matthew, and I checked out your website--nice!
Posted 06/20/2021 01:41 PM
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Lori Levy:
Great line--"Best to swing with Dad behind you."
Posted 06/20/2021 11:05 AM
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carlpalmer:
I love your rhyme scheme, Matthew, wonderful poem.
Posted 06/20/2021 11:00 AM
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