Silence

Suppose the world stops
mid-stream— and questions
end before answers
or waves reach their height
and turn into folded limestone
or a leaf hovers over a limb—
an aerialist on a high wire

Suppose the response
to the question lodges
like a fishbone in your throat

Then the world begins again—
the wave plunges into the sea
the leaf slumps to the ground
the response to the question
remains constricted