Stanley Pelter

from height to base

ladder collapse
temporary jolt
upturns fears

Follow her down. Path is steep, erratic. All afternoon it rains. Downside is one long slide. Helped by creamy mud, scratched, skirt pulled upward as she slides down, we slither. Her laugh is slightly hysterical, tinged with fear as one half of her becomes an inhuman colour. Suppose I, too, have changed shape, colour, size.

rain falls
at confused angles
then a storm opens

Grey sky, still, oppressive, pushes into an even duller grey sea whose endless wave language heaves with frightening forebodings. We gather rock-sliding speed, caught up in a bloody downward trajectory. Vibrating waves pick up and exacerbate all sounds. Inside a deepening mist that seems to vaporise all that appears solid, we arrive. Hold each other as if one.

top down
slide show turns to cream
and intruder rocks