-elevator door-

by doreen peri

Posted to Action Poetry on 2001-09-07 21:29:00

-elevator door-

and so i stepped
one foot out
of the sky to firm
ground, shaking —
face to face with
a look
framed by
a gift of crimson,
the multiples of velvet
handed me gently
on stems

the length of genuine —

deep red satin
reflecting stars
from the facets of
light beneath eyelids,
bemused lips kissed gently
off upturned corners
in a gleam of transfixed
sight – no longer blinded
by the flash of the strobe.

but, where were the
security guards?
where, the protection?
my eyes, the camera
recording a daydream
in terminal force,
reckoning
trade winds
off wings of steel,
slam landing

BAM into a
rush —

long strides in unison
past gates, disappearing
vendors, skating swift on
slick floors toward unknown
doors, doldrums blasted by
horse latitudes, blowing
us fast past the memory,
straight through the
metal of an elevator
gliding open

WHOOSH!

a button pushed —
swept in swift,
the thick sliding
closing
tight,
sealed
solid —
four eyes
melded in
an electric

pulse,
our beat,

a pull impelled strong
into prodigious arms
proud wrapped ’round
wound with the scent
of yes blended with
the soft buffed tanned
touch of oh my god
drawn close into
the chance of a
stationary lift,
exit closed,
portal locked,
intertwined
in incident
and oh my god
oh my god
time stood
still ceased
completely
tranquilized
by two
hearts
breathing
one
lung
beating,

immobile
no up or
down
or down
or up —

the brevity and
forever of a moment
when second hands
stop —

laughter on the slice
of nerves breaking
silence
with an awkward
glean off the edge
of a lash, toward
spy cameras
hidden fast by
my vacant heart

and then later —

after time started
and sped through
beyond the
vastness
into the
feast

WHOOSH!
’round the vanish
of nightfall breathing
in unison,

a left fist
clenched
and the look —
pressed tight
into history
recorded
on a contact
sheet in
reel time.

(c) doreenperi, arr