Joe Grieco

The Fallen

I started to keep a journal of dreams

Jam-packed full of cherubs and liars

Between the panic and the laughter

Angels are flying above us all night

Twice each hour, at 20-of and 20-after they fall down

They sound

Like feathers landing in a public fountain

At 20-of and 20-after

Angels shout, “Hey, you okay?”

Please stop laughing in your sleep

I’m trying to listen for feathers

I’m trying not to panic 

Their Lords bind them

To remind us to pray

No more words than one can say in a single breath

If we can’t hear them 

We must be the ones fallen away