1000 Feet Up

From a hot air balloon this town could be ok.
The dementia ward could be
just another rectangle of bright white
dotted with swamp coolers.

From the middle of the ocean
this town may look even better.

If I concentrate my left foot can feel
like a water moccasin on my right.
The phone rings and the nurse says,
Lois slapped a man, they’d been laughing.

I’ve heard it’s cold in hot air balloons
so much closer to the sun.











Tim Staley completed a Poetry MFA from New Mexico State University in 2004. His newest chapbook will be released by Night Ballet Press in 2016. Journal publications include Border Senses, Canary, Chiron Review, Circumference, Coe Review, and RHINO. His debut full-length collection, Lost On My Own Street, is forthcoming from Pski's Porch Publishing. His hobbies include running Grandma Moses Press, thinking, eating taquitos, and waiting. Find him online at www.poetstaley.com