San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly

Joseph Gardner

Up High

There is a certain art to it

A tightrope walk
And the way of it
Is to remember
To constantly remind yourself
That there is no safety net
Up here
All the vulgarities
Of life
Undisguised
No shadows to lie in
To crouch in
Only the constant abyss of failure
Beneath your feet
Waiting
Hungry.
 
The better ones
The clever ones
Do it without regard
Mostly they do it drunk
And alone
And vaguely insane
But still there they are
Slugging away at it
Taking the lumps
For the pleasure of it
For the madness
For the thrill
To end the mind numbing boredom
And the way of it
Is to do it
 without the safety net