Follow Me

The girl who narrates this dreamy poem smiles all the way through it, and who wouldn't? She does what so many children fantasize about: after swinging back and forth on her swing, she launches herself up into the sky. Slowly, spread by spread, she tumbles through the air ("Look at me, follow me/ into the curl of a breeze./ I am caught/ in its folds—/ around and around and around"), free for a short while from the bonds of the earth ("I reach up,/ way out,/ over and beyond,/ across that easy sway of blue"), her physical floating a visual metaphor for the freedom of her thoughts. At last she lands softly in her backyard, her arms outstretched and eyes closed, the better to savor the last bit of flight. Falling leaves, birds, and flowers are united visually by Tusa's (In a Blue Room) nut-brown lines, which curl and twist with the girl. It's Tusa's portrait of the ideal childhood, liberated from the tyranny of schedules and achievement. Action-oriented kids may wonder why nothing happens; inward-turned imaginers will recognize themselves. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)