You say, maybe I can teach you.

Here is what I want to learn:

What this tightrope dialogue would teach us

If our taut exchange suddenly loosened into the warm, damp grass below

Could we side-step slightly into the space beside us?

Breathe easy outside of the constant balance

Of one foot in front of the other,

Of never knowing if this one will be the step that misses,

And sends me diving into somewhere deep

A few more steps away

From the straight line of back and forth

Just heartbeats from our words, a picnic table awaits

Over which a deciduous tree undecidedly hangs

Protecting, exposing

In the partial shade or light we could sit there

Could we sit there? Guarded by the color still hanging on?

In sun-pierced red and yellow:

Me on one side, you on the other

We could forget about the tightrope and explore the light and dark of in between

When we walk away from this linear saying so

There will be looking into eyes

The sound of voices

The suspense of an inhale and the heat of letting it go

Across from one another we could allow our outlines

To describe the backdrop of a world;

The one we now sit in together,

Breathe into, and define