I’m the ship’s navigator when the stars disappear
Constellations leave no consolation
Orion hunts further along the horizon
Cassiopia spies other skies to rule
Aries rams into the waves
And I’m a drop in the ocean
No notion of where to point my sails
I’m the orchestra’s conductor when time stops
Metronomes clock out and go home
Clocks stop in a timeless tick
Chronos is dropping, dropped, drops chronology
Then picks it up without checking the page numbers
Musicians wait for the beaten beat of my baton
Never, and always, all at once
I’m the tightrope walker when the world quakes
The Earth’s core is a clown, spinning plates
Arms tired, gravity drops reality
Mountains move, shaking snow from their slopes
Titans turn my tightrope into a skipping rope
Turning me into a skydiver without a parachute
Shooting into the valley
I’m the escape artist when the cage turns invisible
Audiences wonder why I’m struggling to leave
Assistants hold keys just out of my reach
Give me a stall and applaud their accessibility
I take Orion’s sword and slice through the locks
Take time from Chronos, take the Titans’ strength
And escape.
Izzy Searle is a neurodivergent poet from Sussex. Her writing is featured on the International Network of Italian Theatre, and she has a poetry anthology in the process of publication. In her spare time, Izzy loves to hike and volunteer at Scouts.