Tova Greene
ode to my love learning how to rollerblade
after Ross Gay
it’s a day after the spring equinox &
crocus buds are splitting through
the winter-torn soil & since the
robin’s red belly is turned towards
the sun shining through the
branches of the large elm tree
I suggest you bring out the
rollerblades I bought you for
Hanukkah, tag still on & stuffed
in the back of the closet since
December — we settle on a bench
in Prospect Park so you can buckle
& strap yourself in — about to take flight
I ease you onto your legs shaking like
a giraffe just-birthed — I kiss your
stomach now at my head height
— you laugh & bite your lip in
concentration, calculating
the right speed & velocity & angle
of your movements in your meticulous
mathematical mind — you test how to
brake, squatting with your right leg
thrust forward — ankles tired you
rest in first position — we shoo away
small sticks from the sidewalk
so you don’t trip — between sips
of matcha I hold your hand as we
traverse from one side of the path
to the other, dead leaves piled up
from the past months on either side
to break a fall that never comes —
when you windmill your arms & sway
forward & back I think of thelithe limbs of a willow tree, as even
on tiny wheels you keep me rooted
to earth — I joke that if it were me
I would have broken a bone by now,
but you, helmet on tight, blue eyes
sparkling in the newborn spring,
can teach yourself anything — how
to fix a shoe or sew on a button or
spatchcock a chicken — so of course
10 minutes in you are already cautiously
— with the smallest possible glides your
long legs will allow — skating to me.
Tova Greene (they/them) is a Brooklyn-based producer and poet-person. As the Chief Programs Officer of The Poetry Society of New York, they create immersive poetry wonderlands—such as The New York City Poetry Festival & Poetry Camp—that prioritize collaboration and artistic experimentation. Their events have garnered acclaim from outlets including The New York Times and Observer. Their debut collection, lilac on the damned's breath (Bottlecap Press, 2022), grapples with the cyclical nature of grief.