star playground

im reading "the gift"
i got it yesterday when i was early to ballerina
and had to snoop around the bookstore...

this morning i put a butterfly mobile in my room.
it made me think of tiny puffy origami stars
the size of your fingernail....

once i was in a vietnamese restaurant
and a young girl was making the stars.
she was so skinny... most of her self
was just long black hair and a grin.
on the table in front of her were hundreds
of tiny tiny tiny 3-D paper stars.
she had paper cranes too...
i must have looked at them so longingly
she just grabbed a whole handful and
with a smile the size of her whole head
handed them out to me nodding...

i learned how to make them too...
i got a whole pack of white tracing paper
and began to fold... and fold... and fold...

i threaded them with nylon thread
and thumb-tacked them everywhere...
from my ceiling and from my walls..
from lamps...from my book case..
from shelves and frames...
from doorknobs and cabinets..
they swayed in the breeze..
they tangled with each other...
seems i had made a playground
of stars.. people would come
over and blow on them
or bat them around
and make cat noises.

this got me thinking of the fact that it started with a gift.
a gift is free.. a gift is only a gift because its given.
it doesnt have a name attached.. no praise or glory
just a little act that brought us all a bit of happiness...

it seems other people have had the same idea....
when i looked for a picture of them online
i read on a blog that an art student filled
tons of little bottles with the tiny stars
and left them places for people to find.

i think its time for another star playground.. dont you?
heres how you do it...