Alex Honnold (mensjournal.com), not Charley!
Finger-
tips
hook
faint ledge.
Leg trembles
as I reach
for a toehold.
Face,
body
pressed
against rock.
A
stream,
a
river
runs
through
my
clothing.
Ropeless.
(rhymes with)
Keep climbing!
Scale.
Balance.
Weighing.
Justice.
Found wanting.
Toehold!
Breathe.
Settle.
Strain.
Reach.
Overcome
your
fear!
For Quadrille night at dVerse Poets Pub.
Life in Portofino 
The style of this poem is fearless as climbing the highest mountain and reaching for the top of such poetic feeling of achievement and joy. 🙂
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I wouldn’t want to be climbing that even with a rope. Breathe and settle does make sense. One has to move with one’s breath.
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Yeah, well, us beginners do. The guy in the photo, and quite a few others, climb in ways that I wouldn’t have dreamed of when I was learning to climb. I did it to overcome a fear of heights. Nothing near what’s being displayed in the photo. His ascent is on YouTube, I think.
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I love the format of this poem. It perfectly highlights the text. Nicely done. I’ll pass on the rock climbing, though. 😉
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Ah, come on! You only fall– er, live once! 🙂
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Love the way you’ve done this and it translates to an appropriate breathlessness.
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Thank you! It feels a bit like that when you’re up there hanging… without a thread.
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Hmm…that really makes me want to try rock climbing….NOT. 🙂
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🙂
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Perfection.
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Wow! Thank you!
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Found wanting – appropriate allusion. The format really intensifies this poem and the sense of movement. That pivotal moment where the unsaid rhyming word shows up turns the whole thing around. Especially like the river line. Nice job! (You sure that’s not you in the picture?)
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Haha! I wouldn’t have gone up Half Dome WITH ropes! I’m glad this was successful.
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‘Twas!
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Subject and format are superb. (I will never understand mountain-climbers. I’m convinced they have a death wish!)
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Only the ones that fail. Thank you!
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That climb has made me dizzy, Charley! The layout is so effective. I especially like the way I was compelled to read at your pace 😉 And I didn’t look down.
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Aw, and it’s such a view! See how the people look like ants? Oh, wait! Those are ants; you’re still on the ground. Glad you enjoyed it!
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🙂
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Perfect form for that climbing/fear experience. I don’t think I could do that. In fact, I know I couldn’t.
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Where is he climbing–the guy in the photo?
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I believe it said Half Dome in Yosemite, CA. That would be my guess anyway.
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I thought it looked like Half Dome. Arrgh.
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If you really want to shake and sweat, David Lee Roth (he of Van Halen fame) did a music video where he’s swinging and twirling on a rope along the face of Half Dome. It’s filmed with a camera attached to the rope. He lives!
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We never truly know our limitations until we are free falling. 🙂 Glad my form worked!
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That’s a scary place to be in. The suspense builds; will the climber fall. I think we were sweating with him
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Dang! I never considered having the climber fall! But then, he was me. I’m glad I brought you along!
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For sure, I’m on the other end of the rope. If you fall, I fall; and I didn’t even know I was out there
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Sudden reality! A good time to pull out my copy of Hitchcock’s Vertigo!
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Great message!
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Thank you!
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Effective word placement here….has me actually feeling breathless with the experience your words put me in. Well done!
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Thank you! It’s something that sticks with you, believe me.
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The shape of the poem really added to my ability to experience this climb, especially beginning with “leg trembling,” I pictured it as a personal experience and slowed down to read it as though it were my own climb. (As a side note I find it interesting that many of the poems so far on this subject “fear” explore “hope”. Possibly even more than those that explore the concept of “bravery.” Yours touches on both.) Great poem!
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Thank you! You have to face fear to begin a climb. I don’t know if bravery fits. For some it is a careless disregard for their own personal life, for others (like me) it is to prove metal. Bravery’s best definition is fear facing fear.
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I like how your form mirrors a cliff. Very brave to face a fear of heights so directly!
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Yeah, well… looking back, hypnotism might have been a viable option!
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It is a rock climb of a poem complete with crux…rhymes with…no time to think about that….keep climbing
Whatever level you climb at ( long time since I did any) you find the edge of your ability and push through or fall off. I prefer the roped version.
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I wasn’t doing the any of the great climbs. The rope free climb was more a graduation kind of thing. If they started you there, there’d be fewer graduations. 🙂 I’m glad it worked for you, Paul!
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I hope everyone graduated 😉
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Those who didn’t were hidden well!
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yikes…tough class.
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I’d definitely want a parachute on my back for that climb, just in case. It would alleviate my fears of ‘what if…’ Nicely done, Charley. Things we do to fear less. 🙂
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I fear parachutes more than finger- and toeholds. Haha! 🙂
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This is wonderful. Not so wonderful if I was in that situation, I have an extreme case of fear of heights, extreme as such I can’t take a few steps on the ladder without trembling inside. So a climb on the mountain, ropless, a perfect nightmare!
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Thank you! I didn’t think it was perfect… a nightmare, maybe!
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The tension was palpable in your piece.
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Thank you! I’m glad it worked.
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