Acrobat

Between word and thing
a leap over nothing.
Around the word
the myriad layers of dreams.
An onion. An atom.
A ravenous onion.
Between one layer and another
nothing.

The layers leap over the void,
take the hollows by force.
Project themselves
from pinnacle to pinnacle, intrepid,
tremulous, odd, fanciful,
and stubborn.

Their leap is a dance,
their insistence an anguish.
Around the onion the air
is fraught with trepidation.