my friend
and i
were walking
through
the woods
one hot
summer day
i had just
gotten new
shoes and
as he walked
in the creek
i stayed
ten feet
above him
going through
the trees
because
i knew what
would happen
if i got
my shoes
all muddy

i remember
exactly when
the tree
i clung to
in the loose
erosion that
followed
the meandering
creek gave way
and time
froze
as i found
myself falling
into the
shallow stream
ten feet
felt a helluva
lot farther
way back when
but i was
ultimately
fine with a
few cuts and
abrasions

the shoes
on the other hand
were not
as lucky
nor was i
later that
afternoon

it feels like
i am running
along the
crumbling edge
of the same
eroded cliff
the ground
falling away
with every
frightened step
bands of
anxiety pulsate
as i try to
maintain my
precarious
footing as the
creek bed spins
so far below

i know when
i eventually lose
my grip
and the world
rushes up to
break my fall
the true punishment
begins when i
get back home
no distractions
just the projector
in my skull
playing a loop
of my greatest fits
as i slam down
against my own
unforgiving truth

escher has nothing
on the impossible
angles my mind
gleefully pursues
while goldberg
could not design
a more nefarious
device for entrapment
and icarus cannot
hold a candle to
the heights i
will soar unto
before the eventual
precipitous fall

it is second
nature by now
and understanding
it isn’t the
fall that kills
it is the all too
sudden stop
and i have been
falling for
far too long
for this to be
anything but
terminal velocity