perspective

we peek out our basement windows and
decide the world is so mean and so tall.
once i perched on the shingles and discovered
birds' reason for singing: optimism

it's not exactly like pouring over the top and bottom
of a drinking glass, but i can't argue
that some of us sparkle inside
while others are vacant or shattered: pessimism

life spewing from the underground leaves my boxes
in storage; i hoard trivia and sonatinas
i fear the rats bedded in the corners
because they chew my yellowed memories through: realism

i plod up uncarpeted stairs on legs defined by fatigue
and make fairy dust out of chimney soot.
flight and victory are the only givens
because my heart is a signal fire burning: idealism

i'm breathing above the canopy in frost-puffs of eternity
and because i am free of trudging lungs' pollution,
my barrel roll to the basement won't bust me;
and i am the first to reject death: exceptionalism