Skull of a Young Tightrope Walker Who Died of a Broken Neck, 1934

Vandal Poem of the Day: October 17, 2022

 by Jeffrey Thomson

human skull, glass

Mudder Museum, Philadelphia
I     am     more
than        those
last     seconds
wobble      and
then            the
evaporation
of             hope
grace     on    a
wire     I     was
once
elegance
perfect
wonder
almost
falling            is
harder      than
not       anyone
can     walk     a
wire           only
the   best   can
pretend        to
fall                for
nothing’s
easier        than
failure
there’s
a    quick    grip
on    the    stale
absence
of the air
then ground
living is hard
hard     is      an
only           child
making
a  pieta   in  his
mother’s
arms   hard   is
a           mother
walking
away

from Museum of Objects Burned by the Souls in PurgatoryFind more by Jeffrey Thomson at the library
Copyright © 2022 Jeffrey Thomson

Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Alice James Books.

Published in Jeffrey Thomson Poems

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council, a State-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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