she jumps from the top 
of a sandstone monolith 
to a narrow ledge 

		far below 

against all odds 
she aces the landing 
still standing 

		(I cringe) 

but at what cost 
I’m bleeding 
she moans 

		from the inside 

Bio: Cynthia Anderson

Publisher’s Note:

When I went treasure hunting for info online, I was amazed to find this article, “Falling 300 Feet Onto a Rock, and Surviving to Tell the Tale” by Steven Salzberg in Forbes (6 May 2012):
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2012/05/06/falling-300-feet-onto-a-rock-and-surviving-to-tell-the-tale/

See also the case report at ResearchGate, “Survival following a vertical free fall from 300 feet: The crucial role of body position to impact surface” by Sebastian Weckbach et al. about the “28-year-old rock climber who survived an ‘unsurvivable’ injury consisting of a vertical free fall from 300 feet onto a solid rock surface,” in which she landed on her feet. (Initially published on 25 October 2011 in Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine 2011, 19:63.)

Links retrieved on 27 August 2025.