Straight and swift: a path of falling
Zigzag and push: a path of climbing
Climbing against Gravity:
step, step, step, step,
forth and up, forth and up –
steps and risers make a stairway.
Sailing against wind:
go at an angle,
left, right, left, right –
beat and tack into the wind.
A sailor sails
with no motor but Earths own wind,
and catching naught but wind,
can move against the wind –
The sailors call it tacking.
You point your nose straight into the breeze
and cut an angle to one side,
then switch it to the other.
The sail draws you forward,
a lifting wing in rushing air.
Culture can come at you like weather –
high pressure systems
batter and roil low pressure fields
like angry Gods of Old.
But you can tack against these winds.
I point my nose against the current,
go in at an angle, sharp as I can manage.
I carve a little headway,
then cut another way.
Zig zag, zig zag, zig zag:
thus I build the stairs.