CHEERLEADING

All the perfect hair day clones
who danced and shouted on how to touch the clouds,
how they made the leap sound so easy,
just try with all your heart
and suddenly you’ll be an hot air balloon
turning into a space ship
traveling to your dreams non stop,
no problems, not a single risk from gravity.

They were so busy yelling and being excited,
to bother mentioning a ladder might be found
helping you climb to the top of a tree
where you could find the remnants of a blimp.

Or that if you stopped yelling and went to the library
there you would discover some special book
about places you could actually ascend
with a lot of effort and pain.

Somehow their philosophy of excited
has dominated the cheerleading clans,
skipping over things such as plans and details
so you might know the risks
before you jumped around
while pretending to be a bird.

Once I stop listening to the lofty loonies,
gave the desire a honest and earnest passion,
the bruises and wounds didn’t stop me
from extending my arms to grasp at my hopes,
only with band-aids instead of pom-poms.