Everyone is Falling!

Over here
in the land
of ice & snow
we all fall down.

Everyone is falling
every step is an adventure.

1 day it rains.
1 day it freezes.
1 day it snows.

Ice is everywhere.
Deadly, invisible, ice.

That's winter in the midwest.

What happens when you fall?
You will fall.

Sometimes it's not catastrophic.
A bruise here. A strain there.
Pick yourself up.
You carry on.

Sometimes it is catastrophic.

Broken wrists,
broken arms,
broken legs.

Hospital waiting rooms are full.
Morphine drips for the pain.
Doctors are stretching limbs,
putting bones back in place.

3 people I know are walking around in plaster-casts.

You pray to avoid the catastrophe.
You wear the heavy boots of gravity.
You walk like a slow-footed zombie.

You count your steps, you count your blessings.

Your days are a long slow-motion slog.
You keep walking - one step, one step, etc.
You are always thinking of the thaw.