Tightrope

You taught me to

walk the middle line

never committing to one side or the other

because at least that way you

can't get hurt

Master of the tightrope

the straight and narrow that

hovers above absolute disaster at all times

But now I'm falling on both sides

because I was never told how to choose

My body stretching thin

and only my belly remaining on the line

my gut

still telling me that lukewarm is

the most comfortable temperature

That staying comfortable and

safe is the only way to avoid the

pain

Without knowing the joy of the fall.

Reviews

[Einstein Noodle]

nice! great read for me...the enjambment is just right says i! making the pauses in all the right places .. your voice is clear and the rhythm of your prose/poetry natural and easy ... so many things one can plug into the meaning ... its very personal yet so universal .. covering politics and religion ... emotive and stimulates me nog ... wouldn't even begin to think anything might be changed ..
E.

[Lorry]

BOOM! Brilliant last line. Walk the line, stay on the straight and narrow.... This has a feeling of words ingrained from childhood, yet aren't explained, so we stay silent and accept what we think is advice, but as time passes, we realize it is living in the shadows of anothers mistakes.
I think you really capture the clsustrophobia and the feeling of everything closing in on us, making us smaller, as we hold our breathe through fear it will make thst fall a reality.

[lizardbrain]

impressed with how poignantly you stated the experience underlying this poem.. "we stay silent and accept what we think is advice, but as time passes, we realize it is living in the shadows of anothers mistakes".. that's exactly it