When I worked in the steel mill
the ceiling crane dropped a bolt
at my feet the way the cat
leaves his catch on the doorstep
for me to step over it
a bolt thick as a sparrow:
the gift of it: it didn't
easy as eggshell crack my skull.
Walking underneath the el's
same bridge superstructure
when i first arrived
in Chicago this is what
I thought of a falling bolt,
having to give up my cats
and not be mad if the whole
thing falls off track aimed at me.
Buildings straight up from the street
tall slough off their 'Falling Ice,'
stand-up sidewalk signs like it's nothing.
Buildings the sparrow's slam into,
fall from— watched from the window desks—
mistaking light for the sky, land up here.
The cats probably have been
put to sleep by age by now. No blame.