“Suspense” — C.Birde, 1/18

Hair – unruffled. Not a strand out of place.

Jeans, long-sleeved t-shirt – unbuffeted. Yet, a rush of air courses over the exposed flesh of my face, my hands, my feet like a strong current of water.

There is nothing – not a floorboard, nor weave of threadbare carpet; no slim scrap of terra firma – beneath me.

I hang in the air, motionless; arms snugged beneath my ribs…

…and the stairwell rushes past; floors and hairpin-turns of banisters whip past in a blur.

I am surrounded by heady, accelerated motion.

Do I fall?

Or does the structure rise skyward in reckless urgency?

Suspended, I blink.

The stairwell streaks by.

— C.Birde, 1/18