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Nooses and Lifelines

Todd Matson

too old for toys
too young to drive
bored out of our minds
in serious need of adventure
we took the nooses from
around our necks
the ones we made of hemp
imported from Columbia
the ones fashioned to end
our post-childhood misery
we turned our nooses into lifelines
and we went tree-hopping
me and my best friend
both of us suspended
in young adolescent limbo
each of us a cross between
tarzan and cheetah
we started swinging and
jumping from tree to tree
around a grove of pine trees
as big as a city block
the name of the game
to make it around
the entire perimeter together
without hitting the ground
contact with the earth
meant you were dead
and though we never
made it all the way around
the entire perimeter
we went further together
than either of us
could have ever gone alone
we took more leaps of faith
than we ever imagined taking
we fell through pine needles
and broken branches
more times than we could count
we hung on for dear life
bruised and bleeding
time and time again
with our only lifelines being
the ropes we threw out
the hands we reached out
to each other
we lived and died
many times over together
when we were
suspended in limbo
between times



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