Alice on the Stairs

Keys, not really lost,
just not there,
especially in the morning
after a night of neglect.






Next to the telephone,
after the call to Weather?
On the desk, under the mail,
under the credit card application,
(Pre-approved, No annual fee)
On the bathroom sink, waiting,
on the nightstand behind the clock,
alarmed?
In the closet, on the shelf,
officially there,
correctly there,
rightly there.
Without their keys
doors open and close without a plan,
And open and close without a plan.





An apartment house of twenty-four doors,
Each door has a lock and a plan,
four to a floor,
opening and closing to a center stair.

Chorus:

Twenty-four

Twenty-three

Twenty-two

twenty-one

Twenty

I stand in my open doorway,
keyless,
reconstructing history,
when down the stairs she comes.
She descends today like other days-
from what heights? I still don't know.
She is Alice,
my door is in the Rabbit-Hole,
And Gravity pulls her down.

Nineteen

Eighteen

Seventeen

Sixteen

Fifteen

Fourteen

Thirteen

Twelve

It pulls her eyes past mine, always,
And weighs her bag heavy on her arm,
Her hair,
sometimes short, sometimes long,
uncurves and uncurls
down, straight down,
as the crow flies?
No, as the crow falls.

Eleven

Ten

Nine

Eight

Seven

Six

She has passed me

Five

and begins the last flight

Four

to below where she leaves me

Three

wondering why I always see her going down

Two

but never her return.

One