you show up late for your symphony date, for every no you’ll someday cave. break even with your struggling sides, half of you is so lucid, the other half tied down in this paralyzing fight. break even, you know all the noise, you’ve got the right level ever oh forever: you’re just thinking trapezoids. break even, you know where you are, the literal chalkboard, chalk and no eraser: it’s not even metaphor. forget the fall. the scrape on your knee. forget the lost purse. broken ocular cavity. things that you’ve lost, things that you’ve found, a subtraction you’ve made, you’re not sad, you’re not proud. the valley told you that the peak is the place and now you’ve got proof you can land with some grace.