Gravity's Darling

You'd think I lost a bet
with God or nature
or whoever runs this show
the way I manage
to place myself
between objects
and the spinning core
of Earth they hurtle toward.

It's like I have some strange tattoo,
a birthmark invisible to human eyes,
but bright, fluorescent, strobing
like a neon invitation
to Newton's bodies,
obeying the only laws
they know.

Or maybe it's just
that I'm shorter
than my own ambitions
and the people who stock
the shelves.