Arts for the 21st Century

The Ad Hoc Ladder

No one knew what he was doing:

discarding his branded T-shirt,

folding the legs of his pants,

measuring the distance, ground to sky.

 

Until he started climbing outside

the comfort of indoor chatter,

grip by grip up the ad hoc ladder,

eyes on the green bosoms of life.

 

He stretched and screwed the first;

with a thud, it tumbled right down.

His appetite grew larger and larger,

till he fumbled his balance and

 

Body-hammered gravity into the ground.

He stood up and dusted off his ideals,

looked around for the common jester—shame—

before donning his T-shirt to hide the pain.