Accident
written by: Artemis Bronstein
Libra
Tell us, how do you balance
beneath the weight of a hill-sized
avalanche?
Constellations in the doming, dripping roof
of abandoned
freight line tunnel
slime spitting
onto our cranial orbs
glow at the end
gives me the urge
to speed to the end
not anticipating the bend
slipping from the verge
but little star-chart anomaly
though we share
no lights in our birth sky
you’re tied to me through life
as on a tandem bike
and if I go spinning
you come down too
unwilling.
My fall is your fall
and she is too confident on her feet
to put hands out
Injured, concussed
my baby will not be rebuffed
though her soul is
anchored to matter
and in stabbing lights
of hospital room
as autumn leaf colour changes her cheek
bruising the only body
she will ever have
she smiles as I weep
stop crying mama
it’s not that bad.
