Cannonball

 

“It’s not hard to fall

and I don’t want to scare her.”

-Damien Rice “Cannonball”

 

Driving to the bookstore

on an unseasonably bright day

in early January in Michigan

 

listening to Damien Rice’s

album O, more specifically

the song Cannonball—

 

while thinking of the

brown eyed, long dark hair woman

I had taken out last week.

 

It was the first date I’d had in over a year

and the three day rule of not calling

was aggravating me.

 

It’s not hard to fall

and I don’t want to scare her,

Damien sings softly.

 

It’s not hard to fall

when you float like a cannonball, he sings.

And I thought of the ridiculous image

 

of the impossible cannonball trying to tread water.

I was very courteous that night—

dinner at a dim lit Chinese restaurant,

 

and then a movie.

I opened every door I had the chance to,

hoping one of the doors will lead to her heart.

 

Or, perhaps, to a beach house

with wooden stairs leading to soft, sparkling sand

and a breeze blowing me towards

 

the sea of her love.

And the cannonball, me,

would sink and be surrounded by it.