Warpaint Poem by Samuel Stuart Pennell

I set out on my journey across our nation
I set myself in the dusty old saloons of Oklahoma,
and drank with the ghosts of cowboys

I felt the pounding of drums in my heart, as I entered the plains-
I crossed the lands of the Indians with feathered headdresses

The Indians who were once here,
dancing around the fire like a little bird hopping

It reminded me of being a young boy,
and being on our schoolyard swingset.
Pulling back on the cords of the swing,
I would push my feet into the infinite and orbital blue sky,
and hoped for something more-I would hope to get away

Every time I see a plane crossing the sky,
I wish I was going somewhere