a puffy grin

I don't think my knees
have been this bruised
since I learned to rollerskate
to

Y..
M.
C
A

you know when I was all of

5..
&.
a-
live...

The blue, puffy knees
that I would stare at
or ponder
while falling asleep:
What would it look like
if the paring knife from the kitchen
were to slice into that blue
puffy
knee?
How gross would that be?
Oooh, what would it FEEL like?

Or one of the many times I fell off
my bike on our dirt road
driving dust and gravel deep
into the cuts -
nothing a little iodine and a bandaid
couldn't fix!
And off we went
for another round.

My knees remember
and they know
we'll make it through another bruising.

And what a sled run it was!
My last run of the day
on the sno pro
from a yard sale.

That sno pro flew
off to the left
while I flew
into a cluster
of new
and teenage
trees.
Debris flew,
my heels dug in
and my legs
straddled

a mighty
tall
ash.

It has not been documented
until now: right here!
My knees bend for a bow
and say with a puffy grin,
'thank you,
thank you very much!'