A Story about My Legs

Boats, planes, trains, and automobiles
All have carried me far & wide.
But none are as strong
or as fragile
as my own two legs.

Kicking since the womb
they have persisted.
In childhood they carried me across creeks and up pines
Between neighborhood houses
up and down my own creaky staircase day after day.

They have worn ballet tights that pinched my thighs
and jeans that left tattoos of seams & buttons
that I marveled over in the bathtub.
They have launched me off sofas trampolines and bunk beds
They have hidden beneath so many sleepings bags & sets of sheets.

These legs carried me to every place I've ever been.
They have dragged my body out of an overturned car
They have fearlessly jaunted down school hallways
They have kicked in a hundred streams, swimming pools,
and oceans.
They have danced in clubs and college dorm rooms
they have dragged me to class after class
For 22 years I have stared at them below me,
connected to a body that is somehow mine.

At times
These legs have betrayed me
They have shaken and wobbled on high bridges
they have been gnawed on by countless mosquitoes
They have bled and itched and scarred each summer.
They have twisted on staircases
They have frozen in fear
pried open at the knees by a raging lunatic.

Sometimes I worry they are not enough
to take me to all the places I want to go
and to deliver me from all the places I fear
But I'm grateful for them
They have helped me stand, run, walk, climb
and at times, kneel
They have been a criss-cross applesauce refuge
for children, animals, babies
They have cradled the braided heads of my friends
and wrapped around trees & lovers
They have stretch marks and scratch marks
they are long and strong and deliberate
And they have carried me
faithfully
to every place I have ever been.