Buffalo Jump

(First published in The Oval vol. 4)

silence is the edge
between delight and
a buffalo jump

at the bottom is a
heap. See, at the top is a…
and at the base of silence
someone stares up, and finds he
has forgotten what he was about
to say

at the top, on her belly she is
peering low, shocked at how
far the gulf has—
since
the spark of thunder

the plains roar with it
and you can see the shrieking eyes
of the mute

[ Punctured at the base, note
how the skull has
fractured here

and here ]

from up top she is shouting
and he hears something
from another world
somehow from
one word
to another:

“it’s all theory—
to say
precisely at what height a fall would
kill you, or would not ”