Dropping Skyscrapers
A Poem
There is an anthem we sing
in the sunlight today. It smells
like fresh breath. It sounds like
the soft grind of microplastic.
It hurts like a right calf cramp.
The song is a blood flow celebration.
The song is a college acceptance letter
that explains the future away.
Let’s celebrate the wind chime
and its single purpose, the urgency
of the 12-hour fruit fly, the first
person to cross the Nile.
Can you feel the song emptying?
Each chorus is a bucket pulled up
and poured in our mouth,
the conductor a slack of a rope,
our instrument the creak of a gin wheel.
Today is the end of ritual.
I am ready with a prism to catch,
a wand to heal angry saints.
Everything is a sledgehammer.
Let’s put on black armbands
and let the world know
it is time to slowly back away.
©️ Trapper Markelz 2023
If you enjoyed reading this poem, please consider supporting my chapbook Childproof Sky, a 2023 Cherry Dress Chapbook selection.
