![\"download-596\"](\"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/download-596-1-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sometimes I dare myself<\/p>\n
To stand close to the edge<\/p>\n
because<\/p>\n
fear reminds you that you’re alive<\/p>\n
right?<\/p>\n
The pit of my stomach drops away<\/p>\n
like an elevator summoned<\/p>\n
to a lower floor<\/p>\n
My palms sweat<\/p>\n
Traitors!<\/p>\n
What if I need to hold onto<\/p>\n
something?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Or<\/p>\n
what if I decide<\/p>\n
This time<\/p>\n
To swing one leg over the railing<\/p>\n
See how it feels?<\/p>\n
Then the other, dangling.<\/p>\n
Contemplating the plunge savors of liberation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My life is not lacking in gravity<\/p>\n
It’s rife with the<\/p>\n
The uneven distribution of mass<\/p>\n
The curvature of spacetime that pulls<\/p>\n
Bodies toward each other<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ah Newton, you old virgin, telling me about<\/p>\n
“the law of attraction of the bodies of the solar system”<\/p>\n
Which everyone already knows deep in their bones.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The bigger the body, the more you are drawn to it<\/p>\n
The more you want to\u00a0allow<\/p>\n
Your slippery hands\u00a0to release–<\/p>\n
Your ass to slide from its seat<\/p>\n
On the railing<\/p>\n
(Newton said:<\/p>\n
“nor are those bodies always truly at rest<\/p>\n
which commonly are taken to be so.”<\/p>\n
How did he know how badly I want to jump?)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To allow the body to surrender<\/p>\n
to the ineluctable, the inevitable–<\/p>\n
For those few moments<\/p>\n
Between letting go and coming to a stop<\/p>\n
I would feel untethered, a loose particle<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A lie, of course–the opposite is<\/p>\n
True–nothing would be holding me up<\/p>\n
But hurtling downwards is merely my body<\/p>\n
Obeying the immutable laws of the universe<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The illusion of flying without wings<\/p>\n
Is the purest delusion<\/p>\n
Fettered as we always are to the heavy.<\/p>\n
What is densest<\/p>\n
Will always call me back<\/p>\n
To slam, full force, into its<\/p>\n
Concrete, uncompromising embrace.<\/p>\n
Rules are rules.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So I step away from the edge<\/p>\n
Take the stairs<\/p>\n
the slower descent<\/p>\n
is less exciting<\/p>\n
but<\/p>\n
I\u00a0can always<\/p>\n
take that leap<\/p>\n
Another\u00a0day<\/p>\n
when perhaps\u00a0the embrace<\/p>\n
of the larger body<\/p>\n
Will welcome\u00a0me<\/p>\n
with more gentleness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sometimes I dare myself To stand close to the edge because fear reminds you that you’re alive right? The pit of my stomach drops away like an elevator summoned to a lower floor My palms sweat Traitors! What if I need to hold onto…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":771,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,441],"tags":[2095,627,2094],"class_list":["post-22789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem","category-poetry-prompt-responses","tag-falling","tag-gravity","tag-heights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/771"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22789"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29087,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22789\/revisions\/29087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}