Mad For Take Off

you have the coolest winged thumbs I’ve ever seen  
you express your delight
at experiences, flavors, people, birds
by raising your hands high above your head 

you sit there thumbs erect and digits trembling
until the wings unfold and slowly flap
slowly they raise your entire weight
into the formerly gray and now lemony sky

I do not imagine the Romans
would have been thrilled to have you in the Coliseum 
hovering high above them affirming life 
as the blood steamed below

but then again how beloved is your optimism now
no one likes the overly enthusiastic anymore
we fear you are the rebuke to those ironic lives
we are prone to live 

in spite of that or because of that
I dig your winged thumbs proudly lifitng you
above the merely mild and affectless 
if i thought you could lift us both I’d hang onto your ankles

instead I’m jumping here in place
two thumbs up and jumping in place
hoping to sprout wings like yours
practicing like mad for take off