by Sarah White
Quick! The street is coming up
to meet you. Please
put a hand between
your face and the concrete.
You’re a sight
for Samaritans. Are you
alright? Let them
help you up. Or,
sink through
the sidewalk. Underground,
you’ll be a find
for archeologists
who read inscriptions
on the walls of your mind—
phone numbers, birthdays,
opera plots.
No one has ever seen a brain
take so many blows and retain
every line the Countess sings
in The Marriage of Figaro.
Author of Cleopatra Haunts the Hudson (Spuyten Duyvil, 2007) and Alice Ages and Ages (BlazeVox, 2010), Sarah White has given up writing poetry hundreds of times.