Steps Into The Air Poem by Jacqui Thewless

I compare my verse

almost incessantly to the stars'
perfectly luminous structures

and sentences,
believing:
it is possible to climb

their heights of dizziness
step by step.
I fail

but continue to work -
taking my kit of angst on my back -
I keep climbing;
each syllable a black mark

spilled on my name.
In every margin there may be
invisible commentaries,
especially where anguish
flexes its claws

when sorrow slips into language.
Who cares if I like to write such things
at two o'clock in the morning
about your departure or about you?
Either they stumble
through thoughts querulous

to the sudden chasm,
or maybe they try to clamber to the stars
trusting in stairs
as I do in darkness,
believing such
steps into the air
are more than just possible...