he set out on the cable—walking
over Niagara Falls
as though balanced on a thread
in his electric-orange raiment
like a brilliant spider
on a silk
a lovely incandescent
Marbled Orbweaver
this Wallenda
a third-generation daredevil
slowing over the plumb weights
then quick as an arachnid in a rush
from suddenly seeing itself being seen
in a busy garden
confident and striding
until he entered
the complex crosswinds
where vapours plumed and swirled
in a wet smoulder
it was then he felt
the breath and push
of unanticipated weather
it was then
he began
to pray to the God of sparrows
the God of gulls
and wind-hovering hawks
as he felt
the nudge and mischief
that does not love
defiance
and the ineluctable perils
that blur the burning thorax
of the wirewalker

his heart
and the drum-echo
of its pulse
blooming at the wrist with the flesh stung blue
the image of ancestors
the long drop of their dying
into the damp tear-gather of ghosts
the grey sorrow of rain pooling
in the long veins of an upcurled leaf
the thirsting lifeline
of a widow's palm
what morbid wishfulness
hushes in us all
though we're carried
by his brave motion
we also long in the deep plunge
of a common faith to go
roaring over the emerald edge
as we fall beyond knowing

Source: The author. "The Wirewalker" was previously published in his book The Full Measure (Black Moss Press, 2017) and then in his book Beautiful Stupid: poems selected and new (Black Moss Press, 2018)

John B. Lee is the Poet Laureate of the city of Brantford in perpetuity and Poet Laureate of Norfolk County for life.

View the poem on the Niagara Falls Poetry Project website

On June 15, 2012, Nik Wallenda became the first person to attempt to cross the Niagara River on a tightrope for almost 100 years, since the failed attempts of Oscar Williams in 1910 and 1911, when he had to be rescued. Wallenda successfully crossed the river, and became the first person to cross over Niagara Falls itself, whereas other crossings took place further downriver where the gorge was narrower. Wallenda was required to wear a safety tether around his ankle before he was allowed to perform this stunt. His feat was televised, and he was hooked up to a microphone which picked up his conversations with his father. One of the photographs above shows Wallenda kneeling just after he had prayed. Wallenda became the latest of 14 funambulists to cross or attempt to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope. Blondin was the first, in 1859, followed by Farini. In 1860 Farini and Blondin crossed multiple times in rivalry with each other, and added stunts to their trips to outdo each other. Farini once took a washing machine over on his back and washed some clothes halfway across. Blondin took his manager, Harry Colcord, on his back. Blondin had offered to carry Edward, Prince of Wales, but Edward declined. Maria Spelterini crossed a little further downriver, and once of her gimmicks was to cross with peach baskets on her feet. Each of the funambulists performed in front of large crowds, and had helpers collecting money from bystanders.

Watch Nik Wallenda crossing Niagara Falls on his tightrope in this video from Niagara Falls Tourism.