For Jumping

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grainy eyed heroes / this one is for you / the past / like a telescope / soaked our frontal lobes

their superpowers starving / for purpose / against all odds / the adult world caught us / flailing

branches / too tired to chest-puff / but we did / until the same toy gun / that got us here / splashed

nonsense & dried color-blind our bruises / sweating I tell us not to worry / it is worry / that keeps

us here / it is worry that knows we can / but asks in the dark / before / what it is & what it means

find an in-between / but it doesn’t / make sense yet / are the sheep making sense / is their fence

making sense of them / it’s harmless to wonder / wasteful too / there was a time before / these

centers of gravity / & a time after too / it’s all the same ride / pencil me in for the midnight

cycle / the pouring of moon joy going in / & out / pouring / you wonder / I find it more

a trickle compared / to what / compared to suffering / honey / rain / batter / dust / the stars in all

their nonsense stopped / mid main course / to check on YOU / running laps around yourself

like a football field / in a huff / about some naked / problem / when you have two / choices

wait there on the side of no fall / or jump the railing / & if you do / so choose / I’ll meet you

with a blanket / we’ll have a picnic / go forehead / deep in saltwater / kill the germs / ingest

the seaweed / make washington / state our ever after / it does rain here / a lot / it’s pouring now

actually / pouring / you say / I’ve seen pouring / have you now / let’s drink to that / let’s find

the funky orange stuff / that makes new / ooze from our trunks / that place / that hated you

is distant / maybe / even nonexistent / but it doesn’t matter / either way / I think we can both

agree / this is WAY better / & this is just the first transformation / juicy blood orange maps

of langue / pronouns shifting into ungrammatical faces / finish lines shaped like circles

just like we were / we were / less than babies / when we realized / there was something / else

metamorphoses / posture / singing / dancing even / cave drawings and lichen and huckleberries

and staircases and razor clams and subarus and mood moss and evergreens and microgreens

and in-betweens and binders and tattoos / and no / pluto is not a planet but that never mattered /

my mouth sinks into yours / like it’s the first real thing / that’s ever happened / and maybe it is

/ for us / so / I’m asking you / do you want to jump the railing?



K Van Petten