Bent or Broken, Never Bouncing

Two kinds of falling you know

Well, the kind that’s surprising

For happening so quickly,

And the kind that’s surprising

For taking so long to fall—

You could as well itemize

The Hemingway bankruptcy

As a third type, but that type

Just links gradually, and

Then suddenly, in sequence,

So, the same two, distinct kinds.

You know them both, know them well.

The third kind, you’ve never known—

The unsurprising, graceful,

Painlessly completed fall,

The specialty of athletes,

Stage performers, and raptors,

Experts who know how to fall.

For all your experience

Falling, in falls that go on

Forever, or seem to, or

Now, done already, too late

To alter outcomes at all,

You’ve never learned how to fall.