Fell, Fall, Falling, by Rachell Summers

Fell, Fall, Falling

-- Rachell Summers

Fell

Well, once I was running after a bus.

A school bus actually.

You know, to go to school.

It was in the 5^th grade and I was new.

I didn’t know the bus would wait.

The air was moist with early morning fog,

And in the woodland violet aura up ahead

I saw the bus at the corner, starting to pull away.

Like a Baroness shot out of a cannon,

I ran so fast

I could have won a gold medal.

But I hadn’t given a thought to

Stopping.

Feet don’t have brakes, you know.

So I slammed straight into the tire wheel

Of that potentially yellow school bus, and

Bounced back, arms and legs stretched out in front of me.

And, landed on my butt.

“Oops, pardon me.” I said.

To the bus, I guess,

Because no one else was around.

The kids were all leaning out the windows, everyone on one side, so the bus could have easily tipped over,

I later thought.

Gathering as much dignity as a

Shot-out-of-a-cannon Baroness could muster,

I climbed the bus stairs, sat in a seat and

Proceeded to untie and then tie back up my black tennis shoes.

“Look at her, she’s tying her shoes,” laughed one 4^th grade boy, pointing at me.

“No wonder she fell down.”  He was so disdainful, just like a 4^th grade boy.

The bus driver nodded, pulled the lever to shut the bus doors,

Which made that unique bus whooshing sound, and we were off.

“I would have waited.” said the driver.

Fall

Some people fall down all the time.

Like wide receivers who get tackled,

They fall down and immediately get piled upon by the

whole defensive line – when really…..

He’s already down, so it just seems oh so dramatic.

Every one slowly gets up

And they do it all over again.

Surfers fall upon the glassy, hard ocean,

Which looks deceptively smooth and forgiving

But it is not.

They swim to the surface, climb back on their boards

And they do it all over again.

Hockey players don’t fall down much,

which surprises me, since they are on skates.

But they do slam into the plexiglass wall a lot,

The one that surrounds the rink.

Which seem really painful,

but they bounce back, skate away and resume play.

And they do it all over again.

But whenever I have fallen,

I stay down for a while.

My ego spread all around me,

Which takes time to gather.

And I say, every time,

I won’t do it again.

But the next time it happens,

IF it happens.

I swear,

I shall bounce right back up

And declare

“And that’s how it’s done!”

               

Falling

OK, it happened again today.

I fell down.

But it wasn’t my fault or

Because I’m getting old.

It was the stupid stairs.

Oh, and my stupid sandals.

And, I suppose,

My stupidly long skirt.

But I redeemed myself

I knew I couldn’t possibly be hurt

So…

I bounced up, like a gymnast making a perfect 10 landing.

Brushed off my skirt, looked around at the offending stairs

As if to say,

You think you’re so tough?

It will take more than that

To get the best of me.

Heart's Toll

Heart’s Toll

                                 

So high, so precariously high

Slung between rock walls

 like the delicate thread

 of a spider’s web

I step on my brakes before Bixby Bridge 

then peer out to see the waves ebb and flow

260 feet below

Awestruck by it’s magnitude

self-importance no longer apt

even my courage gets tapped

So unsure, so surprisingly unsure

Sunset sweeps all color from the sky

coastal fog drips down the slender spikes

of a lone Yucca Whippley Eye  

So complete, so intimidatingly complete

Windswept Cypress, Statuesque Sequoia

thriving without a need

yet without them man cannot succeed

So dependent, so naturally dependent

My hair whips above my head in fits.

as maverick winds nip at my neck

like a whiskered kiss.

So wild, so insatiably wild

California rubs her rugged shoulders raw

against a deluge of tides and seismic rides

Hammering sculptures that fill me with awe.

So transforming, so constantly transforming

A biker pulls off  Highway 1 

unlike me, he’s bold 

aiming his camera like a gun

framing Big Sur, as if it’s his to hold

So cavalier, so casually cavalier

I stand before the daunting divide of land and sea.

Resigned to forgo visiting Esalen and Nepenthe’s

My tension sinks roots like a tree.

So irrational, so ridiculously irrational

Suspended spans, celestial overpasses

the song of the road’s no longer Earth bound

I crave the sound of solid ground

So secure, so satisfyingly secure

It's not whether I forge ahead or waiver

it’s connecting with my heart’s toll

that ultimately makes me braver

So uniting, so courageously uniting

Patience steers me like a sage

straight into the fear and pain

that leads my pen across the page

accepting the mystery of who I am.

-Emily Bording
Capitola Book Cafe

Thoughts on a Cloudy Day

Thoughts on a Cloudy Day

I thought about you today

As I drove toward your mountain,

Under a blanket of grey

With clouds shaped like ghosts,

Quietly gliding across the sky.

I wondered if you were also under that canopy,

Or did the thick grey cover hover below you,

And were you smiling and watching my ghostly clouds,

Dancing at your feet.

Perhaps the sun was shining over you,

And soon would melt away the ghostly ones,

Or maybe they would float away

On a gentle breeze.

Then you could look down from your mountain

And see me,

Looking up,

And thinking about you.

-Rose Myers

Campbell Poetry Circle

October 3, 2012