East of Alberta, there’s a bridge designated
for the jumpers. Death Guaranteed,
the sign says, Science and Efficiency.
My father liked to say, You can’t
ignore the gravity of a situation.
And he said it slowly, making it last.
I loved him best when he got it wrong:
when the seven horses stumbled, when the butterfly
knife fluttered with blood, when the night refused
its endings. On the bridge, no one gets it wrong.
You empty your pockets of change—for a penny
is a head wound from heaven at such heights—
and you sign the name your mother gave you
when you left her flood.
And then you wait your turn.
________________
from the first issue of Catch-Up
50 notes