HIGH WIRE

Wire-walking again
high above it all
looking down
apart
move
on

Hands grip
slip from wrist
through palms
to finger tips
snap straight out
cruciform
testing antennae to the tortured thermals
and the wayward high-blown winds
Balanced, just
on the fine
taut
line

Feet slid down
the evolutionary scale
prehensile curl and coil
and, in the grasp, glide
in a smooth slide
curve and catch again
while the finer fibrillations
of the wire’s whine and thrum
strum the spine to flex
holding head high
face forward
and on to the
precise
centre
point

Stop

Risk
down
stone-drop
glance carrying
spider-web
needless net
saving nothing but
excuses for the morbid
Eyes aloft again
pick centre point
party piece
Pirouette?
Somersault?
Both
 
Ah! the hurrahs
of the crowd
Tense, try,
attain, taste
salt of your tears
sugar of the cheers
move
on

apart
looking down
high above it all
wire-walking again

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