You step back
(back)
(back)
and then
everything exists in miniature.

You see it all at once, wide lens
Across the horizon
Each person’s little orbit
the scurrying of an ant.
Easy--yes!--to brush aside, pass blithely in your stride.

You hover, above it all, infinitely complex, a universe unto yourself.
Untouchable:  thus, invincible.
Untouchable.

Your head:  it expands, the universe
expands, stretches out--
You open your mouth--
Words fall flatly to earth, wounded birds
Moths that have been handled roughly, hurt
Inside your skull: an unyielding cage.

The world in miniature, there, there
Your hands extend
(empty hands, bursting skull)
but you are on the wrong end of the telescope.

Watch it pass from a car window
Through the glass
Mountains never get closer
Your reflection gazes placidly back
Eyes fathomless, liquid black
Your own eyes,
Cold eyes
reflected back
(back)
*(back)