The Bunny Hop

I was young
And climbed tall ladders
For money.

Some ladders were nearly

V

E
R

T

I
C
A
L
.

The space between the rungs

Was beckoning death.

But the electric lines
Through which I’d threaded
Promised I would never feel the
Pain
Of a crash landing.

Sometimes I fantasized about
Deliberately
Taking that plunge
Pressing the idea into me
The way light
Presses into the tender pulp
Behind the eyelids.

I climbed rung by rung

Like
The Bunny Hop...

I put my right foot in
I’d take my left foot out
I’d put my right foot in
And I’d shake it all about.

My family and friends would come

To the wake
And exclaim how I looked
To just be asleep.
They would remark on how noble I was
To give my life
For the support
Of my young family.

But I would lay there thinking

They’d be amazed

If they knew my last thoughts

Before I fell

Were of

The Bunny Hop.