i didn't look both ways before turning onto the street today
and a car almost clipped my bike
i slammed on the brakes
and dragged my shoes against the asphalt

a narrow miss
that previously would have flirted too closely
with desires lingering just below the surface
of flying too close to the sun

and the drop, the impact, the trigger, the pressure
craved by the skeletons in my cortex
rather than the anticipated quiet release
brought an increase          in my heart rate

fleeting fear commandeered my lust for the abyss
and i surprised myself, for daring
to live, the thought echoing across my skull

as sporadically panned as my stereo fields

the appeal to take another breath, for once,
has been much more scary, but

isn't all of this just            

                                               tem-
                  
                            -po-                              

                                                                                   -rar-
                                                  -y