Taking Off

That's me at a gymnastics meet sometime in 1982 or 1983. I believe that is the first cartwheel of mine to be caught on film. I have since been captured mid-wheel in Washington DC, Newport RI, London UK, Block Island RI, Ithaca NY and, of course, Stonehenge UK. I'm proud to say that, as long as I stretch a bit before I take a shot at doing one, I can still wheel with the best of them. Cartwheels are always my favorite tumbling trick because you can pretty much do them anywhere. Wait, no. I take that back. ROUNDOFFS are my favorite. What's the difference? Well, you need to get a good run going in order to build the kind of momentum required to fly. Believe me, if you hit the mats fast enough, hands first, then flight is absolutely possible. I wrote a poem about it. Would you like to read it? Here it is.

Blue & Red

I remember...
My hair in pigtails and ribbons,
a runway of electric blue,
a four foot streak in a red leotard.

I remember taking flight,
hands barely brushing the mats,
exhilarated in air.

I remember touching down
knees locking, back arched,
arms high above my head.
A perfect roundoff.

I remember feeling powerful
and strong
and streamlined.
It was a wonderful flight,

the flight of my childhood
before adolescence grounded me,
when a runway of blue mats and
a red leotard were all
a girl needed to fly .

Daisy C. Abreu 1993