I like to climb trees when it rains
There’s an old tree in my yard
With fungus sporadically coagulating on
The piney smooth bark
And when I feel a storm coming
I strip off my shoes, when it is hot or cold
And I climb up to the very top
Wind shakes the branches that my feet dangle over
In my mind, I plummet over the edge
Like a baby bird or piece of fallen divinity
But sitting in a tree while I lose sensation of my skin
With my lips blue
And hair whipped by gusts and gales
Seeing only the lightning in ****** wars
With rapidly healing wounds of instantaneous radiance
And the growlcrashscreamROAR of cracks in air
Is the closest I will ever get to flying
--or falling