South x South: Poems from Antarctica

Free-Fall (2)

19 Free-Fall (2) Skydivers at the South Pole: watches must have had the wrong altimeter settings—at each side of the world, north and south, life and death, the air stretches and thins, distorts, gives out false readings like a tarot deck that tells only lies. They had not even pulled ripcords. So high they had no air to breathe, no air to brace against, falling, going faster than at sea level, faster than clock hands spinning. Could they hear it? It is like a simple word problem in math: the first 1,000 feet will take approximately 10 seconds and then you will fall 1,000 feet every 5 seconds. So a free fall from 10,000 feet up will take 30 seconds, true or false. Falling through air into a field of air perhaps they smiled, happy to see how slowly time was passing, perhaps not even surprised when they realized how little time it takes when you are made out of wax to become the blue flame and not the yellow one. ...