Jumper (Poem)

Jumper

And I stood there, poised to fly

On top of the bridge
Above the sky

And I remembered the water
That made the orange juice that my mother
Gave me in the morning
And it looked nothing like the water
Of the filthy river below me

“Have a good day,” she’d say

As she handed me the blinding sun
And I blinked

But it’s been a rough day
All my life
So I draw some blood
With the edge of the knife
And I want to whisper like the last girl did
With a lusty voice in my ear
To the sky
As it whips past my fears

“Where is the air?
Can you help me?”

That water in the orange juice my mother gave me

Is full of spies
It’s camouflaged as good
But they mix well
She didn’t know
She tried
She did her best
And still
It’s the best memory I’ve ever had
The way it sparkled in the sun
The way I breathed and the air came
Into my lungs
Easy
As if it made a home there
There was no choking then
I never choked back then
Before my eyes were hollow
I never choked

So now I see
The filthy river below me
And behind me
And I wonder if I will ever breathe again
Will the water rush into me?
Will I get air on the way down?
Will gravity push it into my lugs?
Easy, like when I was a child
And my mother handed me orange juice
In the sparkling morning
And the sun was in it
And the air stayed home.

--Eric Marley

January 2013