GRAPPLING HOOK

Deliberately digging in

to something

tender there

and hidden

at the top of her—

secretly

I climbed

by nights;

only—to wind up 

stuck 

when the lights came on

nowhere 

near the brittle drop 

ceiling,

twisting 

from a 

knot, and marveling—

how she! 

was also 

my only emergency contact.