Door Into The Earth Poem by Salvatore Ala

When I was a boy and, in a wilderness,
We found a door buried in the earth.

We pulled up the plants clinging
To the door, uncovering the handle.

Confronted with our decision
The forest began circling around us.

Commingled smells of petrichor
Arose from the exposed door.

Bodies are rotting under this door.
It's the green door to the truth.

It's a door to the underworld.
It's a wormhole in time.

It's a buried, insoluble crime,
A house swallowed by the earth,

Being alive is standing at the threshold
Knocking on the door of night,

Knocking on the door of light,
Opening the door of the heart.

Not yet one with its own vast house
It's not too late to open the door.

The face of the earth, a Medusa,
Turned us to stone and back into earth.