To Keep It From All Falling Over

trying to keep everything from falling over
we built our towers back then.
the dolls looked on.

what could they do with their outstretched hands.
their fingers in first position on the keys.
we built from blocks from tinkertoys from what was at hand

in a tottering architecture never known to man and for good reason.
now is the season so many years gone by
still I try to keep it from all falling over

as if the world could fall with it
or only me.
the world within a world

seen sideways, perpindicular without reference
no points to plot on the graph
as if, always,

and from now on
I will never have enough hands.

mary angela douglas 4 march 2020