Don't Fall
       

in a derelict well or tred barefoot
on that yellow jacket's nest. Don't trip

on the fringe, mind that stray rake
& the pond's slick lip: God forbid

you get the plague or lightning strike you
scorched & reeling, margins charred.

Avoid crawlspace and busy freeway, pass
on pate, plattered shrimp—

with any luck when you lie down no
silverfish will eel into your ear:

may no bug in waxy flailing stick
& give you cause to think your bad luck

recompense for all you squandered, everything
you never said, everything

you thought in your barbed heart beneath you.

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Copyright © 2012 Amy Beeder All rights reserved
from Now Make an Altar
Carnegie Mellon University Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission