The snow and the rain and a whole new repertoire of shower songs. Closets for gadgets, dressers for porn. Rejections from strangers, chain letters from friends. Two knocks and a cellar full of cardboard boxes. Paper cuts and glue binges. Pictures of other people’s children. Dog bites. The thought of saving something, someone; that deliverance has a face. Sweepstakes, longhand and a full week’s wait. Something to hold on to, something to burn. Forgotten passwords. The bluest eyes.
This heat. This gloom of night.
Susan Culver is the editor of Lily. Her poetry and short fiction have been published in journals such as 3:AM, The Pedestal and Cranky. Her poetry collection, All the Ways We Could Have Met, is available at Amazon.com.
© 2007, Susan Culver
Halfway Down the Stairs 