–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.