"freefall" poems
I opened a door in the cosmos
and was swallowed, ensconced
by the darkness that followed.
Euphoric,
there you were
Phantasmagoric and sidereal;
I find I'm beside myself.
Come along and freefall with me
At the end of times
O'er the cliffs of nigh
We'll aspire to fire into spirals of nebulous unknown.
Mar 24, 2014
Mar 24, 2014 at 10:45 AM UTC
The day I fell off a mountain, these shoes were on my feet
When I lay broken upon the jagged rocks, these shoes were on my feet
When we walked the valley and through the creek, I felt Mother's natural peat,
The day he slipped, I rescued him with these shoes upon my feet
We made a fire and sat in peace with nothing but the sleet
The day we grasped and found nothing there, these shoes were on my feet
We drank the icy cool that she gave to us with open mouths to greet
When rubble and we flew with momentous speed, these shoes were on my feet
The day you brought me to the sunny hill I felt the heavenly heat
Nothing below us once off the edge, even in freefall these shoes are on my feet
Together we hike and row and climb like two brothers always in beat
I look down to see nothing but rock and know I die with these shoes on my feet
Rocks we skip on the glass-like river so smooth, eloquent, and neat
We approach our doom with mighty force my shoes laced on my feet
Singing of folk with not a care in the world, I and my brother do speak
We do collide with the rock with unspeakable speed these shoes take the shock for my feet
You lend me your tool out of kindness and I know it only takes two for a fleet
Our bodies cease to move but the water still falls, these shoes twitch not on my feet
I lay beside you, it feels safer than home here with these people tonight that I meet
My shoulder is bashed and I lay on my front, I look back to see the shoes on my feet.
Jul 3, 2012
Jul 3, 2012 at 7:45 PM UTC
let's talk about life as our voices fade
by the night's sparkles and sunlight's shades
sorrow ensues and happiness becomes blue
memories come back as we forget about it too
our hearts grew fonder and fonder
yet came haste then you were such a bother
hold me close yet let me go
for i am the wind that must flow
watch me from afar as you leave
for i am not responsible when you grieve
Nov 19, 2016
Nov 19, 2016 at 1:56 AM UTC
I don’t want to be
the fat kid on the seesaw
anymore
The let down
the crash into
the dirt
I want to build castles
in the sandbox
Maybe
hang precariously
inverted
Or perhaps slide
perpetually
Or swing so high
I might go upside down
then just
let go into a freefall
jump
Dec 27, 2014
Dec 27, 2014 at 10:57 AM UTC
I see the space station passing over, and I wave, and think about all the silent machines above me. Orbit is a controlled fall – I remember that. An endless downwards hurtle, but with just enough forward momentum to keep from hitting the ground. Freefall. I think about satellites, and how this barely controlled freefall is the only way that they can fulfill their purpose. I think some people are like satellites: we also live out our lives in freefall.
Satellite people, that’s us. We’re the ones who always say the wrong thing to the wrong person, or the right person at the wrong time. We didn’t get the Rulebook for Human Interaction that the others got given at birth, or soon after. Or if we did, we never read it – discipline was never our strong point.
People in freefall Get It Wrong, often. We’re good at self-justification, and we tell ourselves that she doesn’t really love him, that our unhappy childhoods are to blame, that our badness makes us interesting. We never got the hang of sensible, grown-up love - our bodies shake, our souls twist and burn inside our limbs, and we open our big mouths, and the only thing we can keep down is Jim Beam and dry toast, because we don’t know if it’s all going to be OK, now we’ve spoken. In all probability, we’re never going to know.
We live our whole lives in freefall, people like us, but with just enough forward momentum to keep us alive. And we are alive – ****** and embarrassed and scared, but alive. It’s when we feel nothing, that’s when people like us hit the ground.
Nov 29, 2014
Nov 29, 2014 at 7:44 PM UTC
I sit at the end of the world
my feet dangling over the edge
wondering if just a little nudge
will send me tumbling down to the earth below
Like a meteorite falling across the sky.
Or will I fly free
Like a comet dancing with the stars
Apr 26, 2018
Apr 26, 2018 at 12:43 AM UTC
I halfheartedly grasped the ledge
Peering indecisively over the edge
Wondering perhaps in all seriousness if I should let go
A freefall of the mind is what they call it '
And if you do not experience it
Why and how could you possibly comment
And in all honesty, say it is an emotion you know?
A little less grew my grip on the edge
Taking momentary notice of the crumbling ledge
My mind wanders into a place where all is nothingness
And nothingness is the norm
I let my mind freefall as they call it
Into oblivion and time dissolved it
Finding myself very comfortable in this environment
I wished never to return
So I concocted a simple cunning game
Whenever spoken to by the seemingly sane
Smiling wickedly
Into nodding confirming faces
I repeat these words
A freefall of the mind is what they call it '
And if you haven't experienced it
How could you possibly comment
And in all honesty, say it is an emotion you know?
@ copyright Tammy M Darby Nov. 24, 2018
Nov 24, 2018
Nov 24, 2018 at 5:27 PM UTC
This one time, my mom
and I said goodbye
to Juan's mom and we
walked from her apartment
to wait for the elevator.
Mom didn't like it
when I wouldn't stand still-
sometimes she'd smack me
upside my head just to
make sure I was there
(accompanied by her
motherly calls of malcriado)-
so I'd look in any direction
for a distraction or two.
Through the window a few feet
from my left, I could see two
older ladies in curler hairdresses
bochinchando like caffeinated hens
about the awfully friendly suelta
living next door to gallina #1
(they hung their hand-me-down
nightgowns and their husband's
boxers with such professional care;
if any article escaped the grasp
of family clotheslines, it was
roadkill forever).
I turned to the right
of the elevator doors,
counted the tar-black patches
of decade-old gum on the floor,
finished the half-written
sentences sprayed in *****
rainbows on the sweaty walls
by the zig-zag flight of stairs.
A boom and a click,
and the door creaked open
with the sideways grace
of a crab.
My toddler's impatience
boiled past the brim, I
exclaimed "FINALLY"
and began to walk forward.
Not a second later, I heard a
"NO" behind me, my mother
grabbing the back of my
cartoon mouse t-shirt,
letting out an ay cono, pendejo
that echoed eight stories down,
past the empty space substituting
for an absent elevator shaft,
soaring down that rusty freefall
at ten thousand times the
speed of a human boy's body.
Letting out a long exhale,
my mother did not allow
her emotions to brim over
the barrier-she recomposed
herself, all the while silently
chanting hymns of gratitude
in dedication to fate
and her reflexes.
We decided to take the stairs.
In my youthful oblivion,
I noticed a toy store
right outside the building
from the corner of my eye-
I plan to start begging when
we're at the bottom,
if we ever get there.
My mother took her sweet time
walking down those many steps,
reveled in the scratchy bristle
of the concrete against her sandals,
cultivated a newfound admiration
for my atonal imitation of a
Washington Heights car alarm-
it was a sign I was still there.
Sep 9, 2010
Sep 9, 2010 at 12:14 PM UTC
High above the Canyon’s edge,
Far above the ancient clay,
The helicopter hovers there
Like a dragonfly at play.
With my jet pack on my back
I coolly, calmly step away.
Gain separation from the blades,
Freefall starts my epic day.
On stubby wings the jet packs fire
I’m Daedalus in the morning light.
I soar across the canyon’s rim.
Laughing like some hell born sprite
One hundred eighty miles an hour,
The wind whips cold despite the sun
I glide toward my landing zone
The jet packs sputter and are done.
My parachute has been deployed
My guide ropes turn me for my drop.
My wings are just a dead weight now
I touch down one the Mesa top.
At Kitty Hawk that fateful day.
This must be what the brothers felt
Kindred souls who sought to fly
By using wings that wouldn’t melt..
Jan 4, 2012
Jan 4, 2012 at 10:43 PM UTC
I am a raging river fed by rain.
I flow hard against rocks and logs.
I flood my banks in the springtime
and I seep into valleys.
I catch leaves and seeds during the fall,
and I deposit them southward.
I drift along slowly in the winter.
I feed creeks and mountain streams
and greedy bears and hungry fisherman
and I brought the Grand Canyon down on it's knees.
I am the lifeblood of the mountain.
You can find me in the sweet nectar of the desert cactus.
Nov 15, 2011
Nov 15, 2011 at 11:05 PM UTC
Take a step
Breathe
Take a step
Off the edge
Fall free into the air
Nothing is up
Nothing is down
Floating in freefall
Wind meanders by
Your body speeds
To somewhere
But the mind is behind
The air has stopped now
Were you in distress?
Or did you imagine that?
Either way, you’re finished now
Falling ends at the bottom
Of the endless nether
The ground creeps up
Then your body assaults it
Laying on the concrete
Waking from a dream
Brush yourself off
And take a step off the edge
Oct 8, 2016
Oct 8, 2016 at 7:14 PM UTC
Chilled nights, star lights
Bright with life.
The sheets bundle at the feet.
Too hot.
Too cold.
Toss and turn.
Fetus, log, yearner,
Solider, freefall, starfish.
No position satisfies.
My eyes look to the bear.
A simple stuffed animal.
Your fur soft, his smell still lingers.
You are apart of me, teddy bear.
My arms and side like a magnet to the bear,
I finally catch some long overdue Z's.
Sep 18, 2012
Sep 18, 2012 at 12:19 AM UTC
I remember the first time..
It crept in,
so quiet
so gentle.
Like how the sky goes black.
But this time it's like a
tsunami, a flash flood
a freefall.
I'm standing on a roof
and suddenly I'm flying through the air
the ground below rising up to meet me
as my brain assures me
"Just this once is okay."
"You'll be just fine."
Sep 23, 2016
Sep 23, 2016 at 1:52 AM UTC
I just want to freefall
Let my heart slip away from me
I think that letting feelings go
Could maybe be the key
I just want to freefall
Have the burdens go away
And slip from cloud to blinding cloud
And have a peaceful day
I think if I could freefall
That feeling could set me free
Then the real me- my heart and soul-
Is all that you would see
Apr 11, 2012
Apr 11, 2012 at 5:40 PM UTC
I could, I _would_ fall so hard for you,
If only there's any space for me to jump.
Mar 11, 2021
Mar 11, 2021 at 1:31 PM UTC
I found you in moon-lit courtyards
amongst whispering statues of angels
& broken queer bottles
punk wind roaring in time's freefall
& Tagesspiegel newspapers
read in grave graveyards
the Plötzensee
now a pleasant place
to walk by
past the carefree
nudist sunbathers
in blissful summer
the Olympiastadion
almost forgetting
who it's maker was
but no not quite
nevertheless, good days
far out-weighing the bad
Sep 16, 2015
Sep 16, 2015 at 5:19 PM UTC
I am falling
No
I am about to fall
There are instructions in my hand
something about landing safely
Something about floating
Not flying
I do not know who has decided this for me
There are tools in my hands
I am expected to build a kite in the freefall I think
Somone pushes me
If I land safely then she will love me
this is dream truth
I am a kite now
I let my string drag along the surface of the earth
Reel me in as I pass by
Or don't
I don't care
I can't fly
But I can't fall anymore either
May 19, 2013
May 19, 2013 at 2:06 PM UTC
Less than nothing
The all I've got
The bottom floor has all gone rot
She once was stone
Now my pedestal
Of some expectation
Common sense, decency, love and law
Somehow above me all
Is nothing sacred but letting go
Freefall and none for all
Not the well intended
They here are not defended
Nor for good hearted
They've departed
How bout fair
No not a stair
Surely hope
Just for dopes
Try and try again
If you like but is vain
Is there forgiveness in the end
No nor friend
Less than nothing and loving still
Vain is judgment
Pain and poison pills
Hope of hope to good too
Though I like breathing fine
How bout you
Hearts still beat
In sewers and up on streets
The bottom floor
Where none would fall
For if it fell out
No end to doubt
Is life not good
Nor understood
As we've been deceived
In anything to believe
More or less nothing
Is more or less than love
Jun 10, 2012
Jun 10, 2012 at 9:07 PM UTC
Freefall
into the core of the night
Into the void- filled emptyness
Where darkness is beautiful
And scissor thoughts are blunted by the light
Where silence is our luxury
Our symbol of depth
Come with us
Where wolves howl at a moonless sky
Where there is no reflection; only absorption,
total takeover of the soul.
Where our eyes are flooded with ravens
And our tears are the wings that free them.
This is where we accept the death that is us.
Jan 14, 2014
Jan 14, 2014 at 5:19 AM UTC
I've been thinking lately
about tumbling into space.
Spinning heel over head
through the cosmos
in intergalactic freefall
for the rest of always
and how familiar that
would feel to me.
I've been thinking that
if I could change the entire
fundamental makeup of
the slowly migrating universe,
to warp space and time, would it
be to my benefit to do so?
Small changes ripple outward
having profound consequence
on things we cannot even
fathom the connections between
and is it right?
Is it Good, capital g,
to make those changes?
Is it worth the risk of
losing this to illustrate
the profundity of it?
If I could move stars
would I do so for you?
If I could compress gravity
enough to warp time
would it even matter
that, from a
specific perspective,
we'd technically have
more time together?
I've been thinking lately
about forever
because it doesn't exisit,
it's an abstraction,
a thought given etheral form,
but it is also the only unit of
measurement that feels
consistent with what
I feel for you.
Jun 28, 2023
Jun 28, 2023 at 10:27 PM UTC
Summoning a Spring time synchronicity
The Goddess Archetype
Submitting at nature's feet
Resonating the ground
Shaking the Earth for the divine crown
To grace me with her presence
She'll embrace my transgressions
Wrapped around and tethered out
from my sacral region
My Princess almost got you beat
But she was always in another castle
Leaving notes
warning me of the ghosts
that'll chase me down when I'm distracted
It was always about the journey
so she left me with the gift of permanent flight
My imagination took it and ran with it
To the ascensions
The haunting happenstance
of the girl of my dreams
Teetering on the edge of sleep
We met halfway at fatigue
Waking up on the shores of her subconscious
Or was it mine?
Here's to shared consciousness
Pouring my heart out
into an empty glass house
Half-filled after I built it for her
The rest of the emptiness subsides
She found safety here
So she locked her totem away
Replacing her sanity
with a vacancy sign
A simple idea planted
but never manifested
Until it tore her soul out
It was her on the ledge of some building
begging me to jump with her
Shared freefall
Like we're still dreaming to wake up
and let reality's lie wash over us
She's slipping
She's caught up in mystery
There was always something about her
The way of the cliche and how it magnetizes
Pulling my insides out
Projecting my other half.
Mar 30, 2013
Mar 30, 2013 at 5:40 PM UTC
never underestimate
anticipation
let it be
like the clicking
of a rollercoaster
car as it
rises to the top
of a hill
steady climb
right before the brink
of freefall
and as you shiver
quiver
as it wells up
inside
inhibitions
stress
thoughts
in general
all
disappear
and as you
realize
that there
is no turning back
truly
locked in
for what is
next
an odd sense
of calm
overcomes
and as you
raise your hands
and let out
top-of-your-lung
breaths
gravity
attempts to
pull you down
back to
earth
but with
anticipation
what's meant
to be
fast chaotic
excess
becomes an
even steeper
climb
all the way
to cloud
nine
Dec 30, 2010
Dec 30, 2010 at 8:47 AM UTC
He had become a God
standing atop the world
looking down, knowing
anything could be achieved
in that moment, realization struck
he leapt from the highest peak
the wind whispering her secret
finally free
the trees grew majestically, closing in
the birds whistled a sweet melody
the water danced, awaiting eternal embrace
he forgot all the pain
free falling
time froze and he smiled
his last smile, for the Earth
goodbye
Feb 10, 2013
Feb 10, 2013 at 9:52 PM UTC
Galileo once told that two bodies that fall at exactly the same time, regardless of whatever, land at identical times, too. That regardless of how heavy or light their loads are or how dim or bright their souls are, when they fall, they fall.
Together.
And stay grounded, together.
But he dared not to tell of how two souls could ignite but still fail to heave each other’s flames.
Of how two bodies fall at the very same time,
but never for each other.
Aug 25, 2015
Aug 25, 2015 at 11:40 AM UTC