Sally Clarke

falling  

you should write about a broken arm,
your quick step, his side step, deadly dance,
bodies tangled on the kitchen floor.

you could write about ether’s sweetness,
given to round out the pain, breathed in/out,
going under, understanding the seduction.

you might write philosophically about accident,
goblins, gremlins, gnomes, ‘things sent to try’;
‘learning from mistakes’; ‘could have been worse’;

your rushed tripping always inclined to slip,
childhood’s ever-grazed knees, twisted ankles
stranding you in empty hayfields.

such vagaries, experience, vulnerability,
give rise to imagination, poems
glueing together our broken bones.

Poem previously published in Creatrix #6 (September 2009).

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