Highways and Byways: The Death of the Aerialist

By Maik Strosahl

A recent post by André Duvall sent me back to read his first “Father’s Art” column, about his father, Billy Charles Duvall, and his art. One particular piece caught my attention. Originally titled “The Death of the Aerialist,” “The Last Man” depicts a man falling from a wire. It reminded me of a movie I watched when I was young.
    In 1978, Lloyd Bridges starred in the made-for-TV movie The Great Wallendas. I was ten, but I still remember the tragic tale of a family of tight-rope walkers who were driven to keep going high.
    The father, Karl Wallenda, died that same year, falling from a pretty standard walk, high up, between two buildings in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His wife has been quoted since as saying: “All Karl thought about for three straight months prior to the accident was falling. It seemed to me he put all his energy into not falling – not into walking the tightrope.”
    To this day, a new generation of Wallendas still perform on the high-wire.
    Here is my tribute to Karl, with thanks to both André and Billy Charles Duvall, whose painting “The Last Man” inspired it.

“The Last Man” (originally “The Death of the Aerialist”), 1983.
48" x 24". Oil on masonite

I dreamed of falling,
a drop of rain from an
empty sky

and it held me to the wire
from the early days
through those near fearless –
gravity had no hold
beyond the taut line
held firm and steady,
calm as a leisure walk

I dreamed of falling
and saw my family rain,
a tragic storm of Wallendas

I cried,
tears tumbling
to the circus floor

what does not kill
must be conquered,
again and again

when one falls,
he must rise to honor
those who can fly no more

and so we flew,
and we were great

I dreamed of my falling,
defied all these years,
but when gravity
shook me loose
from San Juan’s sky,
I could not help
still grasping for the clouds

Copyright © 2021 by Maik Strosahl Michael E. Strosahl has focused on poetry for over twenty years, during which time he served a term as President of the Poetry Society of Indiana. He relocated to Jefferson City, Missouri, in 2018 and currently co-hosts a writers group there.