The Upwards Instinct

(Photography by Jiri Benedikt - found here)

Up. Always up—
since Babel, we’ve climbed
cloud ladders just to fall.
No one cares if the bruises
are colored like coffee or
like night. We like the taste
of trial and error: Everest
and the Moon are witnesses.
We crave crème brulee
garnished with stars that will
brand our esophagus
and intestines in 30,000 Kelvin.
Our eyes and noses are up,
as though our skin feels starved
of Heaven—

and maybe it is.

~Courtney Moody