I Was So Glad

Mara Lynn Barbee

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I was so glad
I turned off the gravity
and danced on the ceiling

I was so glad
I made typos on purpose
because it looked better that way

I greeted familiar trees
as if they were longtime friends

made up little stories
about the scenes in posters
and gave them all happy endings

danced to the songs on the radio
even the ones I didn't like


I was so glad
I ran and leapt to catch some stars

wore Kleenex armor
that repelled all bullets

timed how long it took
to become a metaphor

rollerbladed on the river
then soared up to skate across the clouds

set out to make friends
with a blizzard
and succeeded


I was so glad
I spoke in the tongue of dreams

watched the statues on the tennis trophies
dance to the music in my head

laughed out loud
at the jokes I told myself


I was so glad
I pulled in a rainbow
and wore it as a belt at night

learned the meaning of life
then decided it wasn't worth remembering

made a list of unanswerable questions
then chose answers for them

assigned colors to the days of the week
and made them all cheerful

made a castle out of CD cases
and lived in it for a while
admiring the decor


I was so glad
I made a nuisance of myself

perched upside-down on the couch
and asked everyone why they were the wrong way up

prank-called my own home from a pay phone
to see if they recognized me

sat under my desk to read a book
just for a change of scenery

shrank myself down to the size of a mouse
and explored the potted plants

translated whale songs
and found them to be deep philosopical discussions
except for the one that was an invitation to a party

decided to breath water for a while
and went to a whale's party


I was so glad
I almost got kicked off the bus
for starting a rubber band fight

made Flying Pope Hats for everybody

worshipped my favorite drawing pencil
and gave it sacrifices of 0.5 lead

chose cat smiles as the expression of the day
and spent time in front of the mirror trying to duplicate one

wore elf ears through town
just for the looks I got


I was so glad
I got my daily allotment of exercise by laughing

discovered that an unlaced shoe makes a great hat

raced a hummingbird through the trees
and let it win

talked with a squirrel about music
and found a new favorite song

I was so glad
I wrote it all down for later
and signed it with a smile

^_^

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