Everything Often Feels Like an Emergency in Our World
–inspired by Elisabeth Vincentelli, “How Passengers Retooled,” NYT, June 17, 2025
Are you faced with a stressful predicament,
dangling in the air,
hanging upside down, batlike,
the consequences weighing,
catapulted up or dropped down,
no net or mat?
You have to proceed in crocodile mode
the way certain aquatic
reptiles can slow their heart rate
to preserve their energy underwater.
Prepare by rubbing resin on your body,
every place that people might catch you,
to make sure that even if there’s a little
bit of sweat, you will be sticky
and there’s less chance of a slip
though the real bond remains the one
among your team. Listen to each other.
No one is alone at the circus.
13 thoughts on "Everything Often Feels Like an Emergency in Our World"
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Gaby, I have thoroughly enjoyed your poems this month. I just love the last stanza in this one. Such an excellent message.
Wishing you a joyful summer! Thank you for writing and for sharing these with us.
Out like a lion, Gaby! And good stuff from you all month. Thank you.
Oh, I love this as someone who is feeling a bit upside down right now. Thank you for sharing!
Gaby – Always a delight! – Love the title, the questions, and the wisdom! A circus indeed.
This poem has a great ending. I always enjoy your poems!
So true, Gaby! Thanks for sharing words and photos with us this month.
You reflect the need for community, even if it is a circus at times.
My favorite of all you posted this month. Poem and photo paired perfect!
Love the blend of our chaos in life and the community of art! great sendoff for us all! enjoyed your poems!
The most perfect last line!
“No one is alone at the circus.”
I look forward to revisiting your photography and poetry in the coming months. You are a delight to read!
It’s always a delight to be in this community with you! From being one of my favorite professors to being a colleague in my time at EKU, to writing with one another here–I appreciate you and your work.
Wow! Gaby, you saved the best for last and left me wanting more. Consummate craft in abundance. Learned so much from reading your superb work. Journey with peace and happiness till we meet again
Thank you for submitting very good poems and for your comments on my poems.