nadia
Nancy Zhang

Inspired by Nadia Comăneci, 1st female gymnast to receive a perfect 10 in score.
You, Nadia,
with your hand pointed, beaming with pride,
flying through the air like you’re not weighed down by simple mortal things
like hunger. Worry. Politics.
Like gravity was just not meant for you, your slim back arching
like a bridge between your body and your ambitions.
The white leotard, melding into you, becoming part of you, becoming you
because you became it, became the perfect ten.
The small figure in white fleeing from the world and its troubles
for just a moment, not hearing the jeers from the crowd of fall, Nadia, fall.
And when your careworn feet finally ground you again,
you are no longer Nadia. You are the champion, the star, the celebrity.
The miracle, the girl who would be what others aspired to for all eternity.
But when the applause ended, the medal packed away,
all the troubles of the world
like hunger, worry, politics
come crashing back into you, full force.
And you, Nadia, are crushed with triple the force of these human things
until once again you leap into the air, back arching,
carrying you away for a split second of invincibility.