The Six-Day Fall

 

The Six Day Falle 

 

 

It doesn’t take much for a fall to occur—

just nothingness that I mistook for the ground,

an absence of focus with nothing to grab,

one step that can turn all intention around.

My stance is off-center, a leaning on air,

then slow-motion questions of how this can be,

and once the full impact arrives with its force,

the wondering how this could happen to me.

A quick landing downward 

                             too fast to 

                                    deflect—

the pain travels quickly from body to brain,

like falling in love that can change every scene,

the flight, the reversal, the hurt to contain.

 

  

Margaret Herrmann

   

Margaret Herrmann is fortunate to live in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. As a child, she traveled all over the world, growing up in a military family of ten children. Currently, she is very active in peace education and has a special fondness for hiking, foraging, and long paved bike trails. Ariel Chart is Ms. Herrmann’s first professional literary credit.