You will fall through the world on fire by James Diaz

You will fall through the world on fire

And on the days when you need hope most
you must pretend it’s there

root around in the dirt
until the dark reveals its truest face

pain is always more convincing than everything else
tell the dumber story

laugh louder than you meant to
don’t look around in embarrassment

be all looks at once
be your own eyes upon yourself

we are all telling the same story;
badly

ok, so you don’t really know who you are
what’s so bad about that?

I have seen the clouds, like Joni says
I really don’t know the world

but I know the pain
the stumbling, doubting, dumb, useless shit

let go of it
arrive at the party soaking wet

or not at all
eat pizza alone in the park

smiling at squirrels being squirrelly
join them

I’ve seen it done
I’ve wanted a freedom like that

it’s always there
beneath all the dark

you can run right into it
and never come back out

it’s an easy thing: to hate your life
I’ve been there, I stayed longer than I meant to

and on those days when I forget where I came from
I look up at the sky

because there’s no bottom to it
because heaven is just a twisting of the neck

look, there, all that true-blue
and you…

by James Diaz

Twitter: @diaz_james

Editor’s Note: Sometimes a poem reaches out and grabs the reader by the throat. This poem’s first line is brilliantly true.