Every day after school, I’d walk to the second bridge.

There was the small one first, and then the larger of the two just past that.

I’d walk and touch the tall grass, let the wind move through my hair,
and breathe deeply, taking in freedom,
before heading back home to finish homework.

I instinctively gave myself these walks
to balance my time in captive spaces
with letting myself be
and partaking in the wild everything that had raised me.