Poetry / Brachiating (Analysis)

Brachiating
is what they call that trick
When monkeys swing from tree to tree
Grasping the next limb, before releasing the last

Brachiating (monkeys)
Instinctive behavior to maximize safety
Lest the monkeys go crashing down.
How we thrill at their precision and agility,
Their nano-speed choices of target,
The gracefully executed swing,
The coordinated grip-and-release.

Brachiating (me)
Don't you marvel at my movement now?
How I am simultaneously loving and leaving,
Always artfully overlapping on the fly,
From the pixie-faced correctional officer
Toward the contractor and her fine nipples,
Or perhaps to the stoic redhead just beyond.

Brachiating (monkeys)
But in slo-mo, on television specials,
We see the monkeys’ noble truth:
How there are moments when they simply aim
---and let go
Holding nothing but their momentum
And their mission of forward movement

Brachiating (me)
Whereas I am really only juggling, one-handed
One lover after another, all for show
It’s the look and feel of genuine carefree movement!
But in slo-mo, on closer inspection,
This sleight of hand is exposed as mere display,
As I am clinging, stationary and
Immobilized and
White-knuckled
to You

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