LISTEN or DOWNLOAD this poem. Second Story read by Josh Kight.
Second Story
I have always been a second story man
Flopping between heaven and dirt
Looking down from the heights
or peering peripherally at God
while face down blowing dust.
While trimming a tree
I was once ripped across the thigh
by a branch
freed of weight
nearly sending me down
to flop like a landed trout
Through impulsive years
I have swung
and flipped
and dropped
and sprained
Till a psychic trail of hurt
Follows my foot falls
Like a churning current
Of clicking ligaments.
I see my son’s
flawless young muscles
and notice the wisp
of a scratch
across a cat tail downy cheek
Surely I can spare him
the sight of centipedes
and termites under rocks
that I have flipped like resistant turtles
or maybe they were left there
for me to find
by a playful God.
Joshua Kight 12/8/06