Challenging Poetry

Angel's Landing--a hike in Zion's in southern Utah

all you need is your backpack
          with trail mix and
                   six bottles of water
         and your shoes
old and comfortable
         so that the band-aids you take
                   just to be safe
         are unnecessary
and then you walk
         even though you came with
                   five friends you walk alone
         up the trail
back and forth
         forth and back
                   resting at the end of every
         switchback
until you reach the top
         which isn’t the top
                   the portapotty is glaring blue
         against the desert
and your friends pull
         you on—now the exciting
                   part of the trail begins

                   hold
                   tight
                   to the
                   rail
                   don’t
                   look
                   down
                   on
                   both
                   sides
                   the
                   abyss

and then more switchbacks
                   these ones shallow rails and chains
to pull you up the face of the
                   cliff—grabbing toe hold so shallow
you hit your chin with your knee

but at the top you stand there
where the angels must have stood
when they carved out the mountains
you are so high—so close to the clouds
and the ground is so far below
that you sit in the middle of Angel’s Landing
while your friends take pictures and
see how close to the edge they can inch
and you eat a handful of trail mix
and drink your third bottle of water
knowing that all too soon
you will head down again