For Claudia
and for Lisa, who said, if the sky fell, it would only rise again.
Apr 7, 2011
I stumbled over it one morning
in my bare feet and
pajamas, sprawling-
the drink on the night stand
overturned, dripping.
the cat nonchalant
as if she knew it would happen.
only I could possibly
trip over the sky.
We buried it in the backyard.
the way it folded up
and fit into a shoebox
was no less disconcerting than
the way it had fallen,
left nothing behind,
or the way ordinary dirt covered
it up and crab grass
tried to grow there.
All this time all our concern
had been focused on
things below us and
what would happen if the
bottom fell out and
we fell out of power.
so much time wasted on
watching our own
feet, and still tripping.
I think Up has our attention
now. it is all I think
about. not feet but
wings, and never mind that
humans fly like doves
confused by traffic
lights. still we shall have to
rise up and put in
a new sky
a coherent heart 