Ballerino Barons Of The Sky Poem by Robert Dummett

School days were fun but we waited for shut down
And Easter kites to rise on rainbow coloured
Wings singing from the balcony of blue.
'Mad bulls', never in tune snort and sway
Sideways flexing muscles like Atlas
Posing patterns in plastic with twin tails groomed,
But commands sent were grounded by butts.

'SkySharks' lean and hungry braced with coconut
Spine bows and arrows fixed to sails with ribbons
Armed with 'zwill' like the sword of Zorro,
Sharpen blades ready for aerial combat
To cut enemy strings with victory cries
Of 'aiyo' as fighters fed as fodder
Twist and turn, float and fall impotently
In the distance. Peace treaties fade
In forgotten fields, only kite wars prevail.
But to engage you had to learn the language -
To master the skill, the techniques
And genre of the dance. To see your kite
Break loose zoom up like a night tracer,
Pitch downwards and stare earth flat in the face
As a Kamikaze pilot
About to die, then duck under
An attacker before a trade-off with wind,
Take slack and watch your baby wriggle
Like a cobra upwards ready to strike
When you pop the line was supreme joy.

Still, I wonder as sadden souls bow heads
In search of a saviour and as kites
Drift in the sphere at the snip of strings,
If reels have paid out threads to hope...
For such a sacrifice.