What Just Happened?

Sara Berkeley Tolchin

'What just happened, 

 and where does it leave us?' 

 'Same place,' he said, but that's not true. 

 We are in a different place now, 

 this place is new, we've never been here 

 before, the air's a different shape, 

 no colours I've ever seen, the view 

 has shifted, and the ground 

 is shifting too, not so easy 

 to walk around without a fall. 

 Still, what is there to risk 

 in this endeavour if not all? 

Miners are trained when things go wrong 

 to lie on the ground, breathe slow 

 and shallow, wait until the light breaks at last 

 through a chink and they are found. 

 Sometimes behind their self-made barricades 

 they lie there breathing low 

 until their lives rise up and float around 

 above them, no colours they've ever seen, 

 memories shedding light in the coal-dust gloom, 

 making room for what's to come. 

We've been lying here for quite some time. 

 I'm wondering when we'll be done 

 with all the shallow breathing 

 and the oxygen conservation.