Barbara Guest

The Blue Stairs

There is no fear
in taking the first step
or the second
or the third
                                having a position
                                between several Popes
 
In fact the top
can be reached
without disaster
 
                                precocious
 
The code
consists in noticing
the particular shade
of the staircase
 
                                occasionally giving way
                                to the emotions
 
It has been chosen
discriminately
 
To graduate
the dimensions
ease them into sight
 
                                republic of space
 
Radiant deepness
a thumb
passed over it
 
                                disarming
                                as one who executes robbers
 
Waving the gnats
and the small giants
aside
 
                                balancing
 
How to surprise
a community
by excellence
 
somehow it occurred
 
                                living a public life
 
The original design
was completed
no one complained
 
In a few years
it was forgotten
 
                                floating
 
It was framed
like any other work of art
not too ignobly
 
                                kicking the ladder away
 
Now I shall tell you
why it is beautiful
 
Design: extraordinary
color:    cobalt blue
 
                                secret platforms
 
Heels twist it
into shape
 
It has a fantastic area
made for a tread
that will ascend
 
Being humble
i.e. productive
 
Its purpose
is to take you upward
 
On an elevator
of human fingerprints
of the most delicate
fixity
 
Being practical
and knowing its denominator
 
To push
one foot ahead of the other
 
Being a composite
which sneers at marble
 
                                all orthodox movements
 
It has discovered
in the creak of a footstep
the humility of sound
 
Spatially selective
using this counterfeit
of height
 
To substantiate
a method of progress
 
Reading stairs
as interpolation
in the problem of gradualness
 
                                with heavy and pure logic
 
The master builder
acknowledges this
 
As do the artists
in their dormer rooms
 
                                eternal banishment
 
Who are usually grateful
to anyone who prevents them
from taking a false step
 
And having reached the summit
would like to stay there
even if the stairs are withdrawn
Other works by Barbara Guest...



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