If one falls down, his friend can help him stand,
and never was one needed like right now –
it isn’t easy moving from a house on sand
to one cemented in the air somehow.
And never was one needed like right now –
the answerless questions piling up like a tower.
To one cemented in the air somehow,
the easiest reaction when cornered’s to cower.
The answerless questions piling up like a tower
will crumble and fall from the face of grace;
the easiest reaction when cornered’s to cower,
with pain and strife it is always the case.
So crumbling and falling from the face of grace
is easy when one’s stuck in a house built on sand;
with pain and strife that is always the case,
but when I fall down, you help me stand.
“So You Think You Can Dance” audition reject Christopher Oie Keller earned his Master’s in Teaching from Western Oregon University. After leaving his job as a Victoria’s Secret supervisor, he began substitute teaching in Portland. His girlfriend’s name is Laura and she usually likes his poems more than he does. His work has appeared in the US and the UK in publications such as The Delinquent, Leveler, and Poetry Quarterly, and will be appearing in The James Dickey Review. He is also co-manager of the poetry forums of DryTear.net.
Steel Toe Review 