The Juggler Defines His Art
Mekeel McBride
(from "No Ordinary World," Carnegie-Mellon Univ. Press, 1979)

It matters little to him. He can take stones
in his hand or birds or bits of burning wood
and storm the sky as sure as a meteor shower.

Ask him how and he will sigh, saying
"Ah, I have married Lady Gravity
and these, these are my children."

Then ask him what it is
he loves so much that he is able to suspend
all belief in the solid world.

And he will say, "The heart is an orange,
a porcelain cup, a closet
that has not been opened in years.

My own heart I am no longer sure of.
Once it was a golden watch.
I gave it to the woman I loved;

each jewel in that watch, a planet.
Each planet, a place where we were safe.
Now I am no longer sure of anything but

time passing on her lost wrist
as I pass hand over hand, far above
your amazed faces, my bright and weightless life."