Transzine 2024
The View from Halfway Down
by Alison Tafel
The weak breeze whispers nothing
The water screams sublime
His feet shift, teeter-totter
Deep breath, stand back, it's time
Toes untouch the overpass
Soon he's water bound
Eyes locked shut but peek to see
The view from halfway down
A little wind, a summer sun
A river rich and regal
A flood of fond endorphins
Brings a calm that knows no equal
You're flying now
You see things much more clear\
than from the ground
It's all okay, it would be
Were you not now halfway down
Thrash to break from gravity
What now could slow the drop
All I'd give for toes to touch
The safety back at top
But this is it, the deed is done
Silence drowns the sound
Before I leaped I should've seen
The view from halfway down
I really should've thought about
The view from halfway down
I wish I could've known about
The view from halfway down
In The Dark
Sun around the Moon around the Earth.
Out of bed again. Turning under my feet,
We're in tomorrow.
I wish it was the day after -
"You'll spend half your life waiting"-
Nothing happens all at once.
The best time to plant a tree
Was twenty years ago.
The second best time is now.
Days are brighter now,
Mirrors shine more light,
It's hard to say what changed.
Someplace You'd Rather Live
Stirring an unease that sits uneasily,
A broth like tapa cloth
Lies with grace in a book of stories
And worlds you'd rather live.
Perhaps Lewis' bridge between planes
And its unending wonder,
Or Tolkien's great adventure,
Leading to honour and splendour,
Maybe yet a song, new or old,
That lights a spark where none
Has been so bold.
Transitioning is a little bit of a Jeremy Bearimy.
You've just got to be ✨️you✨.
By and By
By the stream, high, I'd sit in branches,
And read, like some fairy tale,
By an orchard of apple and pear,
By the rustle of kikuyu, low, I'd sit by rocks,
And watch, like some fairy tale,
By an old bridge, rusting through,
By the light of the eclipse moon, I'd look up,
And, in the frost, like some fairy tale,
By that number plate in the sand,
By the start of a gold rush, I'd stay,
And I'd never go home,
Like some fairy tale.
