Then From Our Green Branch

then the "safety net" they held

under a branch

then they hit the branch

with a stick

and all of us who weren't holding

tight right at that

second, or if we

forgot, or if

we lifted a foot to say, or if we lifted

a foot to launch, or go, or

if dozing, if we'd been

looking upward through leaves

at a shifting

polygon of sky, or if from the beating we

lost our sense

or if we got

dizzy couldn't hold if

confused if the quaking

scared some youngers if our

balance skewed

or the ground below loomed

in seasick waves, then from our

green branch

we were shaken, dislodged, we

fell from our green world into something

colder—

Copyright © 2009 Oni Buchanan All rights reserved
from New Orleans Review
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission