There’s a guitar
in the picture
Lee the laundry lady
sent: the sofa bed
I gave her, next to it,
the narrow cot
she slept in before.
God will bless me.
I asked her if she
played & she said,
cha-cha, tango, rhumba,
waltz a little, see you
next time, I start
working now ok?
Hilary Sideris is the author of Most Likely to Die (Poets Wear Prada, 2014) and The Inclination to Make Waves (Big Wonderful, 2016). She lives in Brooklyn and works for The City University of New York, where she develops curricula and trains teachers for CUNY Start, an innovative alternative to remedial courses for first-generation college students. Sideris has a BA in English literature from Indiana University and an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
© 2017, Hilary Sideris
Halfway Down the Stairs 