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even if the stairs are withdrawn
Barbara Guest, "The Blue Stairs" from The Collected Poems of Barbara Guest. Copyright © 2008 by Barbara Guest.  Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.
Source: The Collected Poems of Barbara Guest (Wesleyan University Press, 2009)
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