1
you limp into the café and your friend looks at you, her sweet face cupped in her palms, and says, I wish the ground would stop punishing you like this, and you say it was only a fall, only gravity doing what gravity does, and then, because you want to steer the discussion away from yourself, you ask how she is and she says it's not about her so then you're just left hanging with no foothold in the conversation, just the abyss of an empty coffee cup, just the memory of earth, eager as ever, rushing towards you.
2
your doctor asks you to balance on one leg and when you do without hesitation he tells you he's seen a lot of falling lately, his waiting room is full of patients, no longer able to find their feet but you say you have no problem with finding your feet and you don't know why you're falling because you can climb a ladder no trouble, you can ride a bicycle with a box of bananas on your head, no trouble, it's just there seems to be a magnetic pull, a terrible attraction the earth has for you and the doctor looks at you with a sad smile and you wish you hadn't mentioned the bananas and you wish the ground was on your side for once, would rise and swallow you up.

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