I Dream Of Staircases Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

I dream of staircases
I cannot descend
because the stairway runs out

into uncarpeted Space
or only goes a little way down.
I dream of train stations

where the train has taken Forever away
or only just left
or of buses

and I don't have correct change
or I am in that building again
the one I never saw in real life

in an imaginary town
and it is dusk with no known address
and I can't leave

because the staircases recede
though others are on the ground
and the jump is too far down

it could kill me

and it is sleeting
and I cannot slide
and when I ask for a ride

they are all going
the other way

mary angela douglas 27 february 2017