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2001-07-11 | 12:33 p.m.

Okay, I went and read dancingbrave's entry and ended up writing a prose poem (EEK!), by which I mean, yes indeedy, a diary entry that has been broken up into irregular lines, and I know how wrong that is, but I don't care, because I'll never get good if I don't try. So I'm going to enter it here now because, even though it really sucks, I promised over a year ago to start inflicting bad poetry on my readership and that's exactly what I intend to do. But I gotta try if I'm ever going to improve, right?

FALLEN

There is a kind of exhilaration to falling that is worth falling for.

Even the worst falls have their spectacular moments. First you are going along, and nothing much is happening, and suddenly life becomes DRAMATIC and
LIFE-THREATENING or at least
LIMB-THREATENING

You know what I mean if you've ever been bumped by a car and walked away.

That bitch almost killed me!

She didn't really almost kill you. She just did something that we all know can lead to death. Like if you have your hand in a dog's mouth, and it's chewing on your hand, and when you take it out, the skin is broken, and you say

That dog almost took my hand off!

Well, not really. The dog wasn't trying to kill you, and there
would . have . had
to . have . been
a lot more desire on his part to actually kill you.

Same with the driver. Not that desire is necessarily required. But there must be either desire
or
more profound neglect
to cause death.

Okay, have you ever fallen asleep in the bathtub?
I knew a girl who had an epileptic seizure in the bathtub and drowned.
But you've fallen asleep in the tub, which is about as neglectful as failing to take your anti-seizure medication.
Actually I'm not sure just how that measures up on the neglect scale.
And I can't remember if she forgot to take her medication.
Probably.
I wonder if there is anybody out there
reading this
who has fallen asleep in the bathtub and woken up
not because the water got cold
but because the cold water started drifting in her nose, her mouth
and she woke up choking and sputtering and
well, drowning

full of adrenalin, fighting for life, like falling

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