Apex

The air is full of shouting and the smell

of juice boxes warming in the sun.

You don’t look back.

Your sneakers squeak on the ladder rungs

until you’re standing at the very top.

The railing is hot enough to burn.

Your knuckles are white,

the skin stretched so thin I can see

the small, hard machinery of the hand.

You look out at the rooftops,

satisfied and terrifyingly far away.