Written on the wing of the airplane
In bold stencil script, all caps:
DO NOT STEP OUT OF THIS AREA
Good advice, to which I’d add—
Do Not Step
away from safety
outside at all
I’ve always tried to step so carefully
Step around the chasm of becoming my mother—
Frantic and scared, believing there was
An Acceptable Area to step within
and ashamed because she was far
far outside it
Here where I’ve stepped?
There were the sweetest curly-haired children,
caretaking and worry
Failure and counting
Joy and dreams and words and art and books
And oh, a huge surprise of romance
I step in circles, want to hold it all
To build it a box
Beautiful and sturdy
Capacious and deserving enough
to hold it all inside
The airplane wing reminds me—
Stenciled warnings
Are for when you’re on the ground
Preparing for flight or powering down
For the rest of it, in mid-air?
Step outside the cliff’s edge of the box
Climb up so you can see the world
Let it all out, love—
Take your time
Take your chances
Live this life wide and warm and wild,
Lifted on the wind
Puff Of Smoke Poems 