The runner

Published on by Laura Bloomsbury 
Of course they do
monkeys fall from trees sometimes
Icarus crashed to earth
it's said an archangel tumbled from grace
without wings or aspiration against gravity's pull
bent double in the bowels of a fiery grip 

we fall all the time
in and out of love, paradise, favour,
and how many times are we flat on our face
I could have learnt to walk but as a souped-up soul
went charging from stationary to out of the door
the leap without a backward look
treading over angels on the threshold 

wriggling Houdini-like from bonds
I figured drama was the dynamo of life
love a thermometer popped in the mouth
measured in mercury
that slippery quicksilver tongued messenger
told me that the signs were there too 

a half moon rising on the longest day
racing to your arms though you'd promised
never to catch me
past the past and instead it caught me up
carried like the bundle of a pilgrim
in the land of Beulah
I rest my case

Written for the dVerse challenge: Even monkeys fall from trees …make us cry or laugh or teach us something from your own experience of mistake-making.

25 thoughts on “The runner”

    1. somewhere between the eye and the voice, I search for words. Kiki your comments are as lovely as your photos – thank you!

    1. thank you Sanaa – your use of ‘floored’ is perfect since that’s what often happened to the runner

  3. We fall all the time, then we learn and move on ~ Specially like this part:

    past the past and instead it caught me up
    carried like the bundle of a pilgrim

    1. thank you for focusing on those lines as see more clearly the double ambiguity in terms of the carrier/carried

    1. classical fallers show far one can fall! but did I jump and did the arms catch or let me fall too?

    1. true but better still not to trip – light fantastic or otherwise!

  6. Laura, There is a keen sense of magic and illusion in your words, and just enough feeling of unbalance to drive home the theme in the most delightful way!

    1. love your comment – the notion of unbalance is fundamental and I did not know it was there!!

        1. thank you Jilly – very encouraged by your words as have tendency to be too cognitive at times

  7. Laura, this is so very good, so full of wisdom. It’s so easy to leap without considering the consequences but we do learn (hopefully) from those crash landings.

    1. thank you Victoria – the wise poet knows we also learn fear and bitterness – I escaped by a whisker

  9. I love the way you use words and phrases throughout this piece that pull the reader into the poem. It’s like reading flash fiction with poetic lines. Well done.

    1. I like your description – and notion of the flash fiction adds a sense of speed to the runner – thank you

  10. It’s not how far you fall. It’s how high you bounce back! I fear the day we stop bouncing back. Falling only gives us one option! Superb poem, Laura!

    1. ahh the rubber is a little worn now but I liked your optimism and comment – thank you!

  11. I absolutely adore this, Laura. The references are spectacular…..love the Icarus one especially…..and who better to mention in a prompt about mistakes than “an archangel tumbled from grace”—so brilliant. The thermometer, mercury, quicksilver completely had me, too. Stunning! But this line…”racing to your arms though you’d promised
    never to catch me”—ooooh, that just hits hard…such a gut-wrenching line full of emotion. The last line is perfection, too. As I said, I absolutely adore this. The entire thing, from start to finish 🙂

    1. oh you have made my day with such high praise and I treasure your comments as evidently you’ve understood my meanings and intentions -not an easy call to create something neither impersonal nor confessional on such a theme as this! thank you CC ❤

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