The Hanged Man, Alexandra Eldridge
from the Tarot
1. The Hanged Man

One day you came upon a dangling man

hung from a wooden gibbet, human fig

ripening on the branch, a dangling man

tied hand and foot and jerking out a jig.

“One day my universe flipped downside up,

and all my pasts became this present, tense,”

he said, “and now like an upended cup

hung from a hook, I wait here in suspense

to see what falls or rises in my eyes

where up and down and foot and crown are mixed.

Perhaps In Hell the fallen angel flies.

Perhaps all broken things are crucifixed.

Perhaps the trees are roots and I am you.

It all depends upon your point of view.”
2. The Hanged Man Reversed

“It all depends on you, your reading eye.

Perhaps the trees are roots that claw the sky.

Perhaps you thought I grimaced when I smiled.

Perhaps atonal music has begun

and my bound feet aren’t tied, but dancing wild.

Perhaps what’s strung up is no longer strung.

Mercy’s a thing on which so much depends.

It all depends on you, how you see me,

how down the page your reading gaze descends,

whether the fish are birds and I am free,

whether the sky’s a lake and earth a cloud,

whether my rattle is a laugh out loud,

whether you see yourself here in the mirror,

whether I’ve left and you’re left hanging, here.”