Spill

Spill    

Balanced isn’t equal

when you’re past a certain plateful.

To work, add play.

To carbs and sugar, fiber.

Thumb-rule metrics scan

in primers for everyday,

but fall apart utterly

when real shit hits the fan.

With vigils and disasters

it’s the rush to reinstall normal

that’s most apt to topple

the precarious possible.

In sickrooms and typhoons

only a cartoon mariner           

locates a private Ararat           

from which to salute the wreckage.

You have to be swept away first.

Tacking back from ruin, you may be of use. 

You can’t let yourself

be sucked down, the well-meaning

explain. But their own un-sucked-down

serenity is obscene. 

Getting through

in one piece

is much, very much. Not      

all.

Motion studies show

any walk a staggering fall.

A cup that’s brimful

can’t

avoid spill.