who live their lives
standing up
doing what they cannot help
just out of sight
quick & quiet
often breathless seldom
caught
or they drop out of childhood
already rotting inside
out they leave their bare footprints
on the windshields on
the ceilings of cars
their purses on the dark beach
of every brief affair
or like ferrets
they swallow themselves
teeth-first down dark holes
for fathers husbands lovers
flush out the prize then shine
like sunward mirrors
smooth & hard
a perfect surface
to reflect a world poised
somewhere between mischief and malevolence
but there are women who will not sneak
they climb their flimsy scaffolding
nailing themselves together as they go
some fall apart
or their hearts stop
a few will teeter
all their clumsy lives