Published, at last!

+++RAILINGS+++

Arising at 517 Arcadian Ave
Sameness and accustomedness
Illumine my closed-eyes and waking mind:

A sitting up, involving the same
Counterweighted move with my left heel
Using the box spring for purchase

An allowing of pooled blood
To re-arrange itself as I open the
Blinds near me for a peer at the weather

And a look, if it’s light out,
At the thermometer on the garage
Then a standing up

And a U-path around the bed
Letting my hand trace the edge
Of the footboard I’ve had since 1950

To the bedroom doorknob
On which one must pull down a bit
To ease the sticking of the door on top

- that could be fixed but I never have -

The squeaking hinge, ibid
And then to the stairs with the big railing
Put there in 1914 when the house was built

My hand links with the railing’s fancy curvature
That would cost a lot to shape these days
And this sliding connection

To a piece of wood that has guided
And supported so many children and grown-ups
On their way up and on their way down

Taken for granted in its unique feel
To a human hand
And its never-loosened

Attachment to the wall;
All the many occupants at this address
Over all these years

Including the roomers my grandma
Took in when times were tough
We all grasped for this railing

And it has always been there
To firmly but graciously serve
And it has never loosened from the wall!

What tree gave it to us?
Was it the only artful member of it
That made a mark as trustworthy as this?

This railing so touched
By so many, in just a single-family residence
Not as though it were a court house railing

But only in this one private location,
Where it never will be famous;
Except now, after all the years

I’ve briefly tried to make it so

[David Dix 11-9-2002]



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