Hazard

By T. Clear

I’m in the danger zone

on the brink of the cliff

the balcony, the roof garden

a blade at my wrist

the train a heartbeat away

dead-center of the tracks

the freeway, spilled out

and inside up, disassembled

erupted, orange alert

I’m setting off alarms

and motion detectors

out of the gates

and there’s no reverse

there’s no stopping

no finish line, no busted bank account

no credit limit to speak of

I’m hurricane and typhoon

tidal wave and slipped fault lines

I’m the gravitational pull

and the lunar surge of seas

in the line of fire

ice cracking underfoot

flares on the roadside

gas leaking out, a match

fractured ankle, cracked rib

gash to the forehead

on the edge of surrender

on the verge of capitulation

on the lip, the threshold

white flag inching up the stick

towel poised for the throw

waning ebbing easing

in for good for bad

for the long or the short of it

I’m in

T. Clear is a co-founder of Floating Bridge Press and Easy Speak Seattle, a bi-monthly open mic venue. Her work has appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including Cascadia Review, Poetry Northwest, Scoundrel Time, The Moth, The Rise Up Review, Terrain.org and Take a Stand: Art Against Hate. She is a lifelong resident of Seattle, and is on the editorial team of Bracken Magazine. www.tclearpoet.com